Growing Pains
by sickoftakenpennames
Summary: After Liu Kang's betrayal, Raiden realizes he can no longer afford to reconcile ties with his former student. However, he may be forced to once a new problem shows up on the thunder god's doorstep. T for a (brief) intense scene.
1. Chapter 1

**I've developed some kind of obsession with babies lately (probably from hanging around my cousin's one year-old daughter), so for some reason I got this plot idea. I don't intend for this to be very long; hopefully no more than five chapters (if that).**

**I'm not gonna lie, I don't really like Liu Kang, so I like to put him in these kinds of situations often. That's what you get for turning on your only ally (and sounding like a castrated turkey).**

* * *

The thunder god kneeled in meditation as the wind roared outside the temple walls. At this altitude, he could feel the sway of the tower as its framework was rocked by the turbulent storm outside, but then again, that was the way it had always been. Thousands of years of quiet reflection had served to desensitize him to the motion and noise. He was accompanied only by the smell of clove incense and the meager flicker of two wax candles.

However, despite his minimalist surroundings, the deity's thoughts were as tumultuous as the clouds outside.

It had been only a week ago that he had been at the Shaolin temple in an effort to check on his old students after the Quan Chi and Shinnok issue had been resolved. He recalled how he had been dissuaded by Kung Lao and the other monks from seeing Liu Kang, who still bore the horrid burns inflicted upon him from his confrontation with Raiden. The latter had tried to press on, convince them that he could help heal his pupil, but to no avail. The grandmaster had exited from Liu Kang's room just then, relaying to the thunder god his student's vehement request never to see him again.

Raiden had said nothing.

And now here he was, the journey from mainland China to his temple in the Japanese mountains traversed in a matter of seconds for the immortal being. He resided in his shrine for the next week, remaining deep in his meditation, withdrawn to the point where even the _miko_ could not get in contact with him.

He replayed the day of Liu Kang's betrayal over and over in his mind, allowing a well of guilt he had been forced to suppress while fending off Netherrealm's forces to bubble back up as he tried to remember what it was that he had done to make his student stray from his path. The more he analyzed it, the more Raiden began to blame himself, cursing his future self for his cryptic message that only served to make the situation even worse. In the long run, though, everything had managed to work out. The sold souls of the fallen had been restored, and the realm borders had been stabilized. For now.

But he could never fix what he had done to Liu Kang.

The image of his student's charred face seared itself into his memory as strongly as his lightning had his student's skin; Raiden cursed himself for his impulsive action to this day.

Although, in all honesty, even though Raiden thought it ludicrous to even consider placing blame on anyone but himself at this point, he could not ignore the feeling at the back of his mind that Liu Kang was at least _partially_ responsible for his current state. After all, had he not decided to attack Raiden when the thunder god was clearly agitated already, then none of this would have happened.

…Would it?

Although no one was around to see, Raiden shook his head in an attempt to dispel the ridiculous notion that had somehow managed to embed itself in his mind. He could never blame Liu Kang for what had happened.

…Except for the fact that Liu Kang _had_ attacked him.

And also tried to attack Shao Kahn against Raiden's warnings.

And had seen firsthand the Elder Gods' refusal to acknowledge Raiden's pleas for help.

Raiden paused in his thoughts, but much to his own surprise, did not attempt to shut them out the way he had previously. With a small shock, he feared that he was succumbing to the very impulses of irrationality and vengeance that he had warned his students of in the past.

But was it really irrational if it was true?

Lost in reflection, Raiden only barely caught the sound of the tempest beating against the frame of the tower outside. The rain continued to echo the sound of fervent_ taiko_ drums as it pounded relentlessly on the walls.

Exactly the way Raiden willed it.

* * *

The monk closed the centuries-old door behind him carefully, both to preserve the ancient wood in the door and to prevent any disturbance to the man sleeping inside. Turning back around, he was mildly surprised to see one of his superiors had been waiting for him in the hall. The older monk spoke quietly but urgently.

"How is he doing?" the elder asked straightforwardly. The younger monk diverted his eyes to the ground, wringing his hand around the top of the salve flask he had brought with him.

"Physically, much better," the latter responded. "The burns will never heal completely, but the inflammation will go down within a month."

The older monk nodded in response, his face grim. Both he and his disciple knew very well, however, that it wasn't the answer he was looking for.

"…And…?" the elder prodded. His student straightened up and attempted to look his superior in the eye.

"He is still irate with the thunder god," the younger monk answered. "Every day he continues to curse his name. His rage has begun to consume him. I can see the hate grow in his eyes with each passing day; I fear for his spiritual welfare."

Both remained silent as the wind picked up outside, knocking around chimes some distance away, their sound passing through the bare halls easily.

The older monk sighed as he stared at a spot above his student's head on the wall, trying to think of a way to assuage both of their minds, especially that of his naïve pupil, who had only recently joined the monastery as a medic. Still, he recognized the dire nature of the situation for what it really was. Their strongest fighter was slowly heading down a dangerous path, and he wasn't sure how much they could do to stop him.

"We will continue to keep an eye on Liu Kang," the elder finally responded. "Hopefully he will begin to see that his hate is unfounded. Only time, and experience, will teach him forgiveness."

The younger man nodded as he took his teacher's words to heart. The latter waved his hand.

"Come," he said to the younger man, directing the other to walk with him and leave Liu Kang in peace for the night. The two made their way down the west end of the hallway, careful to conceal their footsteps so as not to disturb the warrior monk resting in his room.

Or so they had assumed; from within the room, a gust from the only window had managed to unlatch the lock on the door, swinging open to reveal strewn sheets on an empty bed.

* * *

The warrior wheezed as he clawed his way through the unforgiving forest; every scratch of a branch, every brush of a leaf, every step he took sent a blinding flash of pain through his entire being as it seemed nature itself was taunting him for his deformity.

Yet he continued on in his pursuit for the one who dwelled in the forest; the only one who could help him in his quest for revenge against the god who had wronged him. He had only heard small bits of information about her here and there, and even what he had heard had been more the stuff of legends, passed down and distorted by word of mouth and time. Mostly he remembered what Raiden had told him and Kung Lao in an effort to deter them from ever associating with her. How fitting, Liu Kang thought, that it was Raiden who had ended up informing him of the one method he would use to bring his former teacher down.

His memory of the legend surrounding her had resurfaced when he had heard the monks talk about her outside his door one morning, after the new medic had finished treating him. It had seemed that they were considering going to her for assistance in helping Liu Kang recover, but an elder monk had come by and immediately dismissed the notion after, reprimanding his underlings and directing them away from Liu Kang's door where their conversations would not be heard.

Of course, it had been too late. Liu Kang already knew what he needed in order to motivate himself to sneak out of bed and away from the temple grounds last night; now the faint light of the rising sun could be seen in the distance, providing little illumination for Liu Kang as he continued to stumble over dead leaves and twigs.

The effort proved to be too much, even for the rage-driven monk. He took two more steps forward before collapsing in a heap on the ground. As his muscles burned with the effort exerted, Liu Kang hoped that the monastery had sent out a search team, or at least someone to look for him.

Wrapped up in his pain and torment, Liu Kang did not take the time to notice he had landed near a patch of bare earth; there were no leaves or rocks on the spot, and had he looked up he would have seen a arch of densely woven vines and flowers concealing what appeared to be a plank of stained wood, painted to camouflage with its surroundings.

He only realized that he had stumbled upon something unusual when he heard the creak of the wood as it opened into the tree in which it was hidden. He couldn't see who had moved it, but he could hear a woman's voice address him.

"What is your business here?" the voice demanded, young but marked by the tiredness of a soul countless times older than it sounded.

Liu Kang could only wheeze and choke in response, his burned lips and nostrils making it difficult to inhale. He could still feel the judgmental gaze of the woman as she stared down at this wretched creature on her doorstep.

"…Leave," she demanded, indifferent to the man's pain. "You have no purpose here."

Liu Kang continued to lie on the ground, twitching with agonizing pain. He feared what would happen should the woman refuse to help him and decide to leave him exposed to the elements of the forest.

About half a minute passed as the woman seemed to consider what to do with the figure on her doorstep, looking at Liu Kang and scrunching her nose like he was a dead animal rotting at her front door. Finally, either out of pity or a desire to rid her porch of the dismal sight, the woman decided to take Liu Kang in. However, she obviously harbored little sympathy for the warrior as she dragged him by his shoulders on his burned chest, causing him to hiss as she left him on the floor while she went back to close the door.

She turned around after locking the entrance, the burlap cloth of her robe scratching against the walls as she turned around to face the scum that had crawled into her territory.

"I said leave," she commanded again, even though she had just brought her guest in of her own volition. However, she obviously expected the visitor to make good on this command as she stepped over his body like he was a mere stain on the ground.

Liu Kang struggled to compose himself enough to the point where he would be able to form a coherent sentence, seeing as how his energy was near depleted and he would have to get his request out in one sentence. To distract himself from the pain, he looked around her abode and noticed the vials of potions and ethers that filled the sorceress's shelves and tables. She had gone back to work on another one, and Liu Kang took this moment to catch her attention again.

"…Omegis," he choked out. He could not see her expression, but she had obviously stopped what she was doing once he had spoken her name.

Liu Kang swallowed in another chunk of air before trying to speak again.

"I require… your assistance," he pleaded, returning to his wheezing fit. Omegis paused briefly before returning to her alchemy.

"Thousands of men have come to my door looking for help," she replied indifferently, measuring out a green substance from a spiral vial. "The response has always been the same. You are not welcome here."

She continued to brew her potion as the Shaolin monk laid on the ground behind her. Gulping, Liu Kang tried again.

"Please," he begged. "I have… no other choice. I have been… wronged… by another."

"Many people have been wronged," she retorted coldly, not bothering to look behind her. "Or perceive to have been so. Their issues are not my own."

"Please," Liu Kang repeated, trying to roll onto his side and push himself up, each movement sending a jolt of pain through his arms as his sensitive skin brushed the crude floor. "It is a god who has made me this way."

"I do not meddle in the affairs of the gods," Omegis replied bluntly. "They do not serve me, nor I them."

"You _must_," Liu Kang urged her. As he brought himself onto his knees, he could hear her whirl around, accidentally knocking her potion onto the ground in the process.

"How _dare_ you tell me what I must do?!" she spat out, incised by the visitor's arrogance and ignoring the substance she had knocked over as it burned a hole through an ancient rug and the dirt below it.

Liu Kang remained calm in the face of her outburst, although mostly because he was in too much pain to react otherwise.

"I beg you," he stated again calmly, still breathing heavily. "I must not let him get away with what he has done."

Still fuming, Omegis gritted her teeth long enough to convince herself to negotiate with the mortal.

"And for what reason, exactly, have you decided to come to me?" she asked, purposely failing to hide her brash tone with a mask of politeness. "What makes you think you can take on a god?"

Liu Kang looked at her, but could not see her face, obscured by the hood of her robe.

"If you are willing to help me," he offered, lowering his gaze respectfully, "then I will succeed in making him pay. I would be willing to do whatever it would take to pay you back."

He kept his eyes lowered as she looked the mortal over. Unknown to Liu Kang, Omegis could sense a kindred spirit within the young warrior. Not to her, but to another, who had come to ask for her assistance centuries ago.

"What do you require?" she asked sarcastically, pulling herself back up to enforce the impression of dignity she attempted to give off. "Strength? Knowledge?"

"…Immortality."

The room went quiet. Even the sizzling of the potion that had been spilled died down, almost as if in response to the chilled air that had suddenly entered between the two of them. Omegis stared at the clueless mortal in furious disbelief at the utterance of the forbidden word.

"…Immortality?" she spat back out forcefully. "You think immortality is going to help you?"

"…It is the only way," Liu Kang replied softly, wincing now not only from his reopened wounds, but from the cold stare he found himself under from the sorceress, which stung more than anything Sub-Zero could have conjured.

Much to his surprise, however, her response was only a dark, bitter laugh that sent a nervous chill down his spine. She stopped chuckling long enough to address him again.

"Ah," she said, putting a hand to her heart like she had just heard the world's funniest joke. "I've always admired the blind-sightedness of mortals."

She took a step forward towards Liu Kang, who snapped up his head long enough to stare at her in wide-eyed fear.

"They think that their problems can be solved by 'immortality,'" she lamented, spitting out the last word venomously as she encircled a trembling Liu Kang, tracing an unsettling finger along his shoulders. "That their mortality is what holds them back. Thinking that they only need more time, or that they could best their enemies if they don't face the threat of being killed in the process."

She finished her circle around Liu Kang and stood directly in front of him, looking down on the foolish man who kneeled before her. What little he could see of her face had melted into a terrifying scowl.

"Immortality is not a blessing," she hissed, startling an already intimidated Liu Kang. "Let's see how you do when you have to watch every friend and lover die. When _you _witness war after war, when _you_ are stuck in an endless cycle of hurt and despair."

She sneered down at her victim, who had grown frantic as the meaning of her words had sunk in, before her expression seemed to soften. She let out a small chuckle before turning to one of the tables nearby and methodically picking up a vial that contained a bluish-purple powder.

"You wish to become immortal?" Omegis taunted, popping out the cork and wafting the scent of the potion towards her nose like it was a fine perfume. Looking back down to Liu Kang, she giggled again as she saw her acquaintance's eyes widen even more in fear as he realized his mistake in coming there.

"No," he quickly answered, eying the bottle nervously. The witch laughed again in response.

"If you want to live for so long," she continued, picking up a measuring spoon and pouring a small amount of the substance into it, "then I have no problem in granting your wish."

Liu Kang sat immobilized, his wounds and his terror rooting him to the ground. He quickly realized that he was powerless and attempted to continue pleading with her.

"No!" he shouted again. His efforts did not deter her.

Omegis wafted the spoon under her nose, trying to catch another whiff of the pleasant-smelling substance that she had been forced to keep away for so long.

"Let your petty, childish desires for revenge show you for who you really are," she growled ominously. Within the next second she threw the potion on Liu Kang.

"_NO!"_

His screams went unheard, swallowed by the forest.

* * *

Raiden continued to meditate in stark silence. He had struggled with it at first, but had finally come to accept it: Liu Kang was a traitor.

He wondered how he had been so blind to the revelation before. True, he had been concerned about and worried for his student, but now the facts had cleared his mind to help him see the truth. He knew that if he ever saw Liu Kang again, he would deal with him severely.

Raiden even contemplated killing him. It would serve Liu Kang right for endangering everyone by his impulsive actions.

The storm outside swelled and grew even more raucous as Raiden confirmed to himself that Liu Kang deserved to die. He could feel the rage and self-righteousness begin to swallow him up before he heard one of the _miko_ call out his name.

"_Raiden-sama_!" the shrine maiden yelled, not knowing which floor the deity was on. Snapped out of his stupor, if only for a moment, Raiden picked up his staff next to him and vanished from the room, extinguishing the flames of the candles as he left.

A minute later he was behind the maiden that had called for him. She whirled around, used to the thunder god's habit of showing up unexpectedly, but still startled, obviously by something she had seen earlier.

"_What is it, Fuuka?"_ Raiden asked her as she habitually bowed curtly in respect. She looked back up to the towering deity, her eyes brimming with uncertainty.

"_Somebody has left something at this temple. One of the other maidens found it and told me to find you,"_ Fuuka explained, clasping her hands tightly. Her Kyoto accent had grown more affected, as it had a tendency to do when the girl was under stress.

Raiden furrowed his brow. No normal mortal could withstand the conditions of the storm outside; sure, the _miko_ were here, but they were protected by the temple.

"_Where is she?"_ Raiden asked, careful to be delicate with the faint-hearted girl.

"_On the first floor,"_ Fuuka responded. Too far to go by foot if the matter was urgent. Raiden nodded and wrapped his arm around the shrine maiden's shoulder, instantly transporting the both of them to the ground floor like she had said.

As the two rematerialized in the center of the room, Raiden could see the other _miko_ standing at the doors to the temple, her back to her master and friend. As soon as she was aware of their presence, however, she glanced timidly over her shoulder, her eyes filled with uncertainty.

"_What happened?"_ Raiden demanded, walking over to the other shrine maiden. It took him a second to realize that buried within the billowing cloth of her temple garb, she was holding something in her arms. Something alive.

Puzzled, Raiden tugged back on part of the fabric in which the "gift" had been concealed, revealing a crop of short, black hair. In response to his touch, the thing in the maiden's arms wriggled and poked its head out from the linen folds, exposing the face of a Chinese newborn. Subsequently upset by the stranger's touch, the baby began to wail loudly, giving the storm outside surprisingly serious competition.

Raiden's jaw tightened as his mind raced ahead to the first conclusion, yet he held his tongue until he remembered to address the _miko._

"_Did they leave anything else?"_ he asked the older maiden who held the child in her arms, knowing that her years of experience meant that she was handling the situation better than Fuuka, who was wringing her hands behind them.

"Just a note," she replied, struggling to produce the piece of paper as she fumbled to keep the baby comfortable in her hold. Finally she was able to retrieve it from the folds of the infant's blanket, and she passed it to Raiden as she attempted to calm the screaming child down.

Raiden tried to ignore the cries of the baby as he deciphered the hastily scribbled message. Oddly, although the language appeared to be an archaic form of Chinese, it had obviously been scratched quickly and crudely, like the writer had been eager to get it off of his or her hands.

'_Have fun with your new bundle of joy.'_

Raiden flipped it over to see if the benefactor had bothered to sign the message. In a corner of the paper he could barely make out the primitive signature.

'_-Omegis.'_

_Oh, no._

Raiden's eyes grew wide as he looked back at the screaming infant in the maiden's arms, his fears confirmed as he recognized the child's features.

"What is it, Lord Raiden?" Fuuka asked nervously as she saw her master's expression. But Raiden knew that telling her the truth would only distress her further.

The child was Liu Kang.

* * *

***dramatic music***

**If you've watched **_**Mortal Kombat: Conquest**_** (shout out to Obelisk of Light for getting me hooked :P), then you probably recognized Omegis. I decided to show her a little love instead of just making up a mysterious sorcerer of my own.**

**Additionally, I read on the MK wiki that Raiden has two female servants, Wind and Rayne. I wasn't really digging the names, so I changed them out and made them shrine maidens (**_**miko**_**) instead.**

**I'm hoping this story'll go by quickly. Don't want to start rambling and end up leaving it half-finished.**


	2. Chapter 2

Weary travelers often stumbled through the tangles of the forest and found refuge within the calm walls of the Shaolin monastery. On any given day, the grounds served as an oasis of quiet tranquility that acted as the only safe haven in the miles of impenetrable forest of the Hunan province.

Today was not one of those days.

Anybody even remotely familiar with the usual serene atmosphere of the monastery would have been puzzled, to say the least, at the sight of dozens of harried monks sprinting around the grounds in frantic search for something (or someone, as it was safe to assume there were few material possessions about which the monks would be concerned). What made the sight especially unusual was the fact that they were active at the normally dormant hour of twilight. Silhouettes of anxious Shaolin students dashed along the walls and ground, their paths illuminated only by dimly-lit lanterns, if they bothered to carry even that.

"Master!" came a cry in the midst of the confusion. The abbot turned to see who had addressed him.

"Have you found anything?" the elder monk asked his student, turning his attention away from the others, who continued in their scatter-brained search.

Kung Lao paused to catch his breath briefly. As he stood up, the faint light from the moon and a lantern on a wall nearby revealed his exhausted appearance; his hair, normally slicked down as a result of wearing his hat so often, was disheveled and hung in his line of vision. However, despite the fatigue evident in his face, the Shaolin warrior's eyes remained alert.

"We looked in Liu Kang's room again," he informed the elder, holding out a piece of paper. "Turns out he left this."

The abbot took the scrap from the younger monk's hand and squinted as he attempted to make out the message in what little light was available. Even though he struggled, he could make out his student's handwriting.

'_You will hear from me soon. Liu Kang.'_

The head monk closed his eyes and gave a controlled sigh. Although an outsider would have interpreted the action as a sign of the elder's incredible self-restraint and peace of mind, if this was his reaction to a missing student, Kung Lao recognized it for the signal of internal turmoil that it truly was.

"What do we do, grandmaster?" Kung Lao asked worriedly, concerned for his friend's well-being. However, even in his nervous and sleep-deprived state, he stopped when he saw his teacher's hand go up to silence him, the older monk having sensed something that Kung Lao did not.

The other monks nearby continued to dash about in the search for their fellow Shaolin, but many soon came to an abrupt pause as they, too, perceived a change in the atmosphere. It was then that Kung Lao became aware of the disturbance as well; the air became tinged with the faint sensation of static, prompting many to look upwards towards the drained morning sky. Although they could not see anything, their general premonitions had been correct, confirmed by a dull roll of thunder that sounded from off in the distance.

The abbot looked back down independently of the others and turned around as reflexively as if someone had called his name. Having seen nothing above, Kung Lao followed his master's gaze to a spot somewhere behind the former, where the Shaolin saw a pair of glowing white dots, staring the two monks down.

"Good morning, Lord Raiden," the abbot greeted the thunder god politely, despite the stern look the latter wore and much to the surprise of Kung Lao, who in his disoriented state had not been able to recognize his mentor as quickly as he normally would. The younger monk shook his head to clear the drowsiness out.

"Raiden!" Kung Lao cried as his senses returned to him, if only slightly. "We need your help. Liu Kang just went…"

"Missing," Raiden interrupted calmly, walking over to the two of them. "I know."

It was only then that Kung Lao became aware of the bundle Raiden was carrying in his arms, which in addition to the fact that his teachers were both unusually calm, only served to confuse the exhausted monk even more.

"Then why are you…?" Kung Lao began to ask in exasperation, until he got a clear view of what it was that Raiden had brought with him. Even as the sun struggled to fight its way over the horizon, it gave Kung Lao enough light to notice a crop of black hair sprouting from the linen blankets. Seeing his student trying to make sense of what was buried in the fabric, Raiden grudgingly held the bundle lower for Kung Lao to see. It took a minute for the latter to make sense of the fact that he was looking at an infant; however, this only earned a raised eyebrow from the tired Shaolin monk, as he simply wondered why his master was holding a baby. He looked back up to Raiden for clarification, the sleep already beginning to weigh down his eyelids. Raiden's scowl remained etched into his expression.

"I found him," Raiden explained flatly.

It took another moment for Kung Lao to make the connection. Eyes growing wide, he looked down at the child again and recoiled in horror as he recognized his former friend wrapped in the blankets.

"What happened?!" Kung Lao cried out, the increasingly bizarre nature of the situation taking its toll on the tired warrior. Both Raiden and the abbot immediately commanded their student to lower his voice, reminding him not to disturb the infant Liu Kang, who was resting quietly in the thunder god's arms.

"He was left at the temple this way," Raiden told them in a low tone. "And I have reason to believe Omegis has something to do with it."

Even the abbot looked surprised at this, for he had not heard of the sorceress for years, decades even. To hear that she was still in China, and nearby, no less, came as a shock to both him and Kung Lao, who was busy examining Liu Kang in his new state.

"What do we do?" Kung Lao asked as he continued to look at Liu Kang strangely, possibly doubting that this was truly his friend. Still, he could not deny that the features did resemble those of a younger version of the former champion. Realizing that he had not gotten an answer, Kung Lao looked back up to Raiden, whose expression had not changed since he had arrived, observing Liu Kang as his eyes brimmed with a dull light, a sign of the thunder god's irritation.

"Raiden?" Kung Lao asked, wondering if maybe his teacher was just as tired as he was. "I asked what we are going to do. Have you found anything else out?"

"No," Raiden replied bluntly. Kung Lao expected him to elaborate, but after realizing that that was all the answer Raiden would give, he gave the abbot a look and tried again.

"Well," he said unsurely, "What have you done since you found him like this?"

"Nothing," Raiden responded again, in a matter-of-fact tone that caught Kung Lao off guard. The latter's shock was evident on his face as he registered his teacher's nonchalance on the matter. Before he could ask anything again, Raiden abruptly shoved Liu Kang into his arms.

"He is your issue now," Raiden told Kung Lao as the Shaolin tried to catch his friend, for Raiden had retracted his arms so quickly that he had almost dropped Liu Kang in the process. Kung Lao looked at his teacher in alarm for his complete disregard for Liu Kang's well-being.

"Lord Raiden," the abbot interjected, seeing the confusion on his pupil's face and realizing he needed to act as mediator. "Please, calm down. This is not like you. Besides, what are we to do with an infant?"

"That is your problem to sort out," Raiden snapped back coldly. The crackle of distant thunder sounded, a sign that the deity would be on his not-so-merry way out soon. "Tend to him as you were before."

"We weren't taking care of a baby before!" Kung Lao cried, exasperated and still holding Liu Kang in his arms. Miraculously, throughout their entire dispute the baby champion had not even stirred from his quiet slumber, nestled in layers upon layers of fine, cushioning silk.

"Figure it out," Raiden retorted through gritted teeth. As the thunder crescendoed into an ominous warning, a signal of the god's waning patience, the abbot realized he had to act quickly before Raiden was gone.

"Lord Raiden, wait!" he cried out, almost reaching out to grab the thunder god's forearm, but at the last second Raiden's reaction and the monk's own self-discipline and sense of etiquette forced him to retract his gesture. He tucked his outstretched arm ignominiously back into his sleeve before speaking again.

"Please do not be offended," he continued in a low voice, pausing to make sure his uncharacteristic outburst had not disturbed Liu Kang. All the while, Raiden continued to stare at his inferior with a heated gaze, his eyes blazing with annoyance and standing out strikingly against the deep blue shadows of the early morning.

"We are not suited to take care of… the child at the moment," the monk continued nervously, yet still holding his composure.

"Nor am I," Raiden answered him, dangerously calmly. Kung Lao looked with worry between the two as he continued to hold his friend awkwardly.

"If you wish, we can try to look for Omegis," the abbot offered. "However, that will not leave us any time to tend to Liu Kang."

The elder monk hoped that his suggestion would at least force Raiden to calm down and think. Fortunately, although his eyes still glowed with impatience, Raiden seemed to mull the monk's offer over.

"We do not have the resources," the abbot added in an attempt to further convince the fuming deity. At that moment, a small hiccup sounded from the blankets, instantly causing all three to look to the tiny creature swathed in the linens. Stirring, but still quiet, the infant Liu Kang wriggled before settling back into his slumber, unperturbed.

The abbot took the opportunity to steal a quick glance from Raiden. Although it was unclear in exactly which direction it was that the thunder god was looking, it appeared that Liu Kang's interruption had stalled him, giving him more time to consider the monk's plea.

After a long moment, Raiden turned his head in the abbot's direction, his jaw tight. With a heavy heart, the latter began to fear that Raiden had decided to disregard his advice.

Raiden closed his eyes in frustration, temporarily removing one of the only sources of light from the courtyard. Dipping his head in either resignation or acceptance, the abbot didn't know which, Raiden kept his eyes closed as he offered an outstretched arm to Kung Lao.

The exhausted warrior looked unsurely from his teacher to the abbot, silently pleading the latter to instruct him what to do. Seeing a window of opportunity, the abbot nodded enthusiastically and gestured for Kung Lao to return Liu Kang.

Understanding his mentor's command, Kung Lao hesitantly gave his friend over to Raiden, who did not bother to tuck in the folds of cloth that had come loose from around Liu Kang in the transition, leaving him exposed to the cold air of the dawn.

Raiden looked sternly at both his student and his disciple.

"You have one week," he stated ominously.

He left no option for protest as he quickly teleported himself and Liu Kang out of the courtyard. The clouds, which had followed Raiden to take him at his command, began to clear away with his disappearance, leaving behind the faint tinge of sea salt and ozone and revealing more of the first rays of morning pouring from behind the mountains. The monks simply stood in the courtyard, looking to each other apprehensively.

Kung Lao stood next to his mentor in silence, staring blankly at the encroaching sun.

"What do we do now, grandmaster?" he asked lethargically, his lack of sleep heavily evident in his voice.

The abbot stood quietly, ignoring his pupil's question. Instead, he replayed the conversation with Raiden in his mind. He had no doubt that the thunder god was wise, infinitely wiser than any grandmaster of the White Lotus could ever hope to be. He had experience, and was more than perfectly capable of dealing with a situation such as this.

Yet there had been wrath in Raiden's eyes. And so despite his best efforts, the abbot still could not fight the nagging feeling that somehow, by convincing the thunder god to take the child, he had made a terrible mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I never really know whether or not to describe Nightwolf as Apache or Lakota, since they just mix and match Native American cultures in medialand, so if I got it wrong, please don't crucify me.**

* * *

The blazing Phoenix sun came down mercilessly on the city, creating heat waves that had the disorienting effect of staring into frosted glass if one looked hard for too long. The clock had not even struck noon, not that many of the residents minded; many simply chose to stay indoors, leaving their oscillating fans on as they flipped pointlessly through TV channels in the hopes of finding something with which to entertain themselves.

Well, at least most of them. One man in particular chose to occupy himself through other means. Nightwolf sat in his kitchen, thumbing through a hefty tome of Old World medicines and remedies, his hair tied back in a neat ponytail to help combat the relentless heat and a pair of reading glasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose.

There was nothing around to disturb his studies until he felt a small dip in the temperature, so miniscule that it would have gone unnoticed by anyone who had not refined their senses through contact with the supernatural the way Nightwolf had. Jerking his head up out of his book, Nightwolf looked out of his window and noticed the groups of gray clouds that had not been present moments ago encroaching near the sun. Normally he would have attributed the phenomenon to occasional irregular weather patterns, but the sputter of his air-conditioning unit as it began to malfunction tipped him off to the spiritual forces afoot.

Remaining completely calm, to the point where he even took the time to mark his place in his reading and close his book quietly, Nightwolf turned around in his chair to greet the cause for the disturbances.

"Good morning, Heyoka," he replied nonchalantly as he took his glasses off to get a good look at the man who sent electrical appliances haywire wherever he went. However, even Nightwolf had to pause when he saw the deep scowl etched into Raiden's expression. The Apache shaman was also quick to notice to bundle of cloth the grim thunder god held in his arms.

The warrior gestured with his chin to the package Raiden had brought along with him.

"Did you bring me a gift?" Nightwolf chastised him in perfect deadpan, hoping that the joke would take the edge off of his teacher's current demeanor. Unfortunately, his jibe had no such effect.

Raiden walked wordlessly over to Nightwolf, ducking his head to avoid hitting the ceiling fan, even though it, too, had begun to behave erratically, the bulbs flickering and threatening to surge in their sockets from being in the deity's presence. The immortal lowered the parcel for his student to see, assuming that Nightwolf was smart enough to piece the puzzle together for himself.

The shaman looked the child over for a moment, trying to decipher his friend's unspoken riddle. Soon he recognized the features of one of his former comrades. Even Nightwolf, who had seen enough oddities in his lifetime to give some beings like Raiden a run for their money, looked visibly surprised, arching both his eyebrows as he looked back up to his mentor.

"Whoa," was all he responded, stealing another glance at the infant Liu Kang before closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"For all your teachings, Heyoka, you sure do manage to find yourself in some sticky situations," Nightwolf joked humorlessly as he held his arms out in an offer to take the child from Raiden, to which the latter quickly complied, much to Nightwolf's silent surprise. He had not expected Raiden to hand over his former student so urgently, as if he was eager to have him off of his hands. However, Nightwolf politely held his tongue on the matter.

"The monks would not take him," Raiden explained bluntly, causing Nightwolf to look up at him for ignoring his previous comment. "Is there anything you can do?"

Nightwolf bit the inside of his lip and returned his attention to the sleeping Liu Kang in his arms, using his sudden interest in the baby as an excuse to hide his unsure expression from his obviously irate teacher. At some point, however, Nightwolf realized he would have to address Raiden's question, and sighed as he prepared to give the thunder god an answer the shaman wasn't sure he would want to hear.

"I'm afraid not," Nightwolf finally responded. "Even if I did have something that I could use to help him, I don't know what spell it was that made him like this in the first place."

"Omegis did this," Raiden tossed out, as if it was some sort of mitigating factor. Nightwolf paused as he thought of a way to respond to this information.

"…That clears a few things up," he began slowly, only barely recognizing the name that Raiden had mentioned to him before. "But that doesn't change the fact that I don't know exactly _what_ it is she did."

There was no way Nightwolf could have anticipated the consequences of his answer. All he could do was watch in subdued horror as Raiden's eyes lit up with fury, causing the all of the electricity in the house to blow out; the deity's rage sent the air conditioning unit into mechanical convulsions, rattling demonically until the metal grid blew off in Nightwolf's direction, and the flickering bulbs in the ceiling fan exploded in their sockets, sending shards of glass raining down on the startled shaman. Nightwolf instinctively ducked to protect himself and Liu Kang, who finally awoke to the sounds of the disturbance and began to shriek hysterically, only serving to make Raiden ball his fists even more tightly until the veins and bone-white tendons in his arms threatened to pop from being pushed to their limit.

"Enough," Raiden commanded, his voice echoed by the vicious clap of thunder that rocked the entire city outside. He grabbed the screaming Liu Kang from a shaking Nightwolf, who clung to the table as he stared with frightened eyes at his enraged mentor. "If there is no one willing to help me, then I have no choice but to put an end to this mess myself."

Nightwolf watched as the deity transfigured into an outline of brilliant light before the warrior was forced to shield his eyes.

Then all was quiet as Liu Kang's cries exited with Raiden, leaving Nightwolf to look back worriedly at the spot where the thunder god had vanished, a bare circle unmarked with the shards of glass that lay strewn about the floor.

* * *

Kung Lao pushed open the main door to the monastery, hiding his shame under the glinting brim of his hat. He shrugged off the pack of necessities he had brought along with him for his excursion through the forest, a medium-sized burlap sack that held no less than what he had taken with him that morning. He had had no luck in tracking down the elusive sorceress, not that he had expected to find her on the second day. If it wasn't the sleep deprivation that hindered him in his objective, it was his target's cunning. He knew that trying to find her would be a task akin to searching for a grasshopper in the brush; the forest was her territory. She owned it. She watched and knew of all that occurred, hidden from the rest of the world deep within the trees. Kung Lao only hoped that he wouldn't have to hear from his superior soon, out of fear for having to sit through another somber lecture.

Yet the Elder Gods must have had something else in mind for the Shaolin, for when he brought up his gaze, he found himself staring directly into the solemn eyes of the grandmaster.

Kung Lao sighed and closed his eyes, bowing reflexively in the presence of his teacher.

"I am sorry, grandmaster," he apologized, standing back up. "But I have not found anything. Omegis remains out of our grasp."

"I would not be so sure of that, my pupil," the elder replied, causing Kung Lao to snap his head up out of rabid curiosity to see what his mentor had discovered.

"What have you found?" he asked urgently, causing the grandmaster to hold up a hand to remind his student to remain patient. He then removed a small, tattered piece of paper from his robe sleeve, handing it over for Kung Lao to read.

"She left this in your room," the elder explained, causing Kung Lao to bristle with indignation at the fact that she had been able to get to him while she herself remained untraceable. Nonetheless, he read the note.

'_To whom it may concern (that means you, my precious Shaolin),_

_You are wasting your time and effort. No one finds me unless I will it. You search in vain for a solution that does not exist. After a week, your fellow monk will be beyond help; even my own magic will have no effect on him. Let him learn his lesson, and save yourself the energy._

_Love, Omegis.'_

The signature was punctuated with a dark red lipstick stain, a silent taunt from the witch that spurred Kung Lao to crumple the paper in frustration. He tore the message in half and looked back to his teacher, panting heavily from the rage that had begun to swell inside of him.

"This is impossible!" Kung Lao cried, throwing the paper on the floor and grinding the parchment into the dirt with his foot. "What are we supposed to do now?"

The elder remained silent, only looking in dismay at the only clue they had had as to the sorceress' presence in the forest. Kung Lao turned around nervously, not sure of what he was trying to look at but desperate for something to distract him from his irritation, knowing that it would only impair his judgement and force him to do something rash. However, a thought came hurtling back to him in that moment, quickly replacing his anger with fear.

"Grandmaster," he asked, whirling around to face his superior. "What will Raiden do if we do not find her in time?"

The elder's face remained blank, his jaw rigid.

He had no answer.

* * *

**I'm trying to write this really quickly, because at the rate things are going at school, I won't have time to even look at this story until halfway through November (if I'm lucky). So there may be a temporary hiatus after this, but I've finally got the rest of the story planned out, so I have a direction I want to take with this.**

**Happy early Halloween! (since I probably won't be here to say it when it comes around *_*).**


	4. Chapter 4

Wind continued to rattle violently against the walls of the temple, threatening to rock the building off of its very foundation. Yet the only sign inside that anything was wrong was the lanterns that swung gently from the ceilings, illuminating the path for Amaya, the eldest _miko_, as she swept the temple floors, indifferent to the torrent outside. She had spent all of her time that day and yesterday maintaining the temple in Raiden's absence, cleaning, keeping the lanterns lit, and taking in the offerings that devotees who had braved the storm outside had managed to leave at designated spots around the shrine. She would have done it anyway; years of interaction with the thunder god had habituated Amaya to his vanishing spells, and so she went on with her daily routine, much to the admiration of the younger _miko_ around the temple, who tried to emulate her example often.

However, tonight one of the shrine maidens had something other than following her superior's instructions on her mind. Fuuka gazed absentmindedly into the distance as she cleaned, periodically glancing back to the windows with a worried expression. Although she did not realize it, her superior had taken note of the increasing distance between her and her student.

"_Sweep,"_ Amaya ordered, not even looking back to the young girl, who snapped back to attention and picked up her pace. Amaya could hear the brush of her apprentice's broom as it began to match her own, but soon the sound of the second girl's sweeping regressed to its slow rate.

At this Amaya finally turned around to look at her trainee, one hand placed on her hip in disapproval. Her stern gaze demanded an explanation for why her student was not doing her job correctly. Fuuka gripped her broom tightly, clinging it to her chest like a security blanket.

"…_I'm sorry, Amaya-sensei,"_ the younger girl apologized, keeping her head low in deference. _"I was just thinking…"_

"_You can do that on your break,"_ Amaya snapped. _"Get back to work."_

The elder miko gathered the loose folds of her _hakama_ as she prepared to go up the lengthy flight of stairs to the next floor. Unsure of what to do, Fuuka stayed behind, still holding on to her broom; but for the first time, she did not follow her superior's orders. Instead, a foreign sensation to speak her mind finally overtook her.

"_Where is Raiden-sama?" _Fuuka blurted out.

Amaya turned around, surprised at her student's outburst. Fuuka immediately shrank back, her confidence faltering under her mentor's stony gaze.

"_It's just…"_ Fuuka began again in an attempt to rectify her rudeness. _"He hasn't been around for days. What about the child?"_

Amaya looked at her student with a rigid jaw, leaving Fuuka to wonder why her mentor wasn't answering her question. It was only when Amaya briefly averted her eyes downward that Fuuka realized that it was because she didn't have the answer, a rare phenomenon, at least in Fuuka's mind.

"_It is not in our interest to question the thunder god,"_ was the answer that Amaya finally gave. _"He knows what he is doing. That child is completely safe."_

Whether or not Amaya had complete confidence in her own words was not immediately apparent, but either way she was clearly done with the conversation. She gathered the billowing fabric of her robes as she attempted her ascent up the staircase once more.

She stopped dead in her tracks as a vicious clap of thunder brutally rocked the temple; the explosion of light outside forced both shrine maidens to cover their eyes, almost causing the now temporarily sight- and hearing-disabled Amaya to lose her balance, only barely managing to save herself by grabbing onto the railing. Never in her life had she experienced such a terrifying display of nature.

Both maidens waited for the high-pitched ringing in their ears to clear out before looking at each other. The lanterns continued to swing, but much more intensely than before, more as if a small earthquake had just occurred than a discharge of lightning.

Fuuka trembled as she looked with frightened eyes to her teacher for an explanation. Amaya continued to cling to the rail; she looked to her student briefly, revealing that the elder miko's face had gone a ghastly shade of white.

Even as the two stared at each other in fear, one thing was for certain.

Raiden was home.

* * *

There were few furnishings on the top floors of the temple, and for good reason; few people, including the maids, ever managed to make it past the thirtieth or so floor before giving up and turning back.

There was, however, one floor with a solitary piece of furniture: an ancient table with a slab of petrified wood that rested on top of four intricately carved legs was the only fixture on the otherwise barren top floor.

It was on top of this table that the crying infant was slowly put down; Liu Kang continued to shriek as he wriggled underneath the folds of his blanket, his face red and scrunched up in wordless agony. His cries, which normally would have signaled someone nearby to attend to him immediately, went completely ignored by the immense figure looming over the child.

Raiden glared in compassionless silence at the human child resting on the table's surface as he continued to cry at an impressive volume. The past two days had brought him no closer to a solution for his quagmire, and Raiden had become all too self-aware of the fact that his normally infinite patience was beginning to wear thin. All he could do was stare coldly in contempt at the screaming child on the table.

It occurred to Raiden that all this time he had been waiting to deal to Liu Kang his comeuppance. When better than now, when he was completely defenseless?

Raiden paused, ignoring the bloodcurdling shrieking that came forth from the infant's tiny lungs. Would he really consider hurting a child? Did it matter to him what form his student had taken on? Omegis had done this, so how much of a difference did it really make if Raiden's intention had been established before this whole ordeal? It was still the same Liu Kang, the one who had betrayed him and put an entire realm in danger out of spite.

It was time to put an end to the nonsense. The only question now was how exactly Raiden would rid himself of this little pest for good.

His resolve cementing, Raiden grabbed a handful of the front of the fabric in which Liu Kang was swaddled. He prepared to silence the infernal cries of the nuisance for good.

Before he could do so, however, Liu Kang's wailing died down almost immediately. In response to the contact, Liu Kang's shrieks subsided to a sobbing gurgle, and for the first time since he had been placed under the thunder god's supervision, the infant opened his eyes to see who had finally come to attend to him in reply to his tantrum.

What caught Raiden off-guard was Liu Kang's reaction. Not only did he stop crying, but when he gazed up at his old teacher's face, Liu Kang's expression slowly melted from contorted discontent to wonder and excitement at the sight of the man with the funny hat.

The sudden change in his demeanor brought Raiden to a halt. As the infant continued to squeal in delight, Raiden suddenly became all too cognizant of the situation. Furthermore, when the miniature Liu Kang managed to wrestle his arm out of his blanket in order to reach out to Raiden, the formerly enraged deity yanked back his hand in complete and utter surprise.

In a brief but powerful moment of clarity, Raiden was suddenly filled with horror at how he had allowed his rage to consume him, and disbelief at the fact that he had just contemplated such an unspeakable act. His heart sank with guilt as he looked back down at the giggling bundle on the table, who remained gleefully oblivious to his master's torment.

Raiden closed his eyes and briefly hung his head in shame, allowing his senses to return to him. When he opened them to look back at Liu Kang, the latter was still laughing in inexplicable amusement. The thunder god wondered quietly why, after everything that the child had been through in the last couple of days, Liu Kang's response upon seeing his old teacher's face had been what Raiden was seeing now. Did he somehow still recognize his mentor? It was unlikely, but something within Raiden still entertained the notion.

Liu Kang was still reaching out for his perceived caretaker, his young mind incapable of processing how far out of arm's length Raiden was. Still rattled by how close he had come to doing the unthinkable, Raiden was cautious in picking up the burbling child. For a moment, Raiden held Liu Kang at a distance out in front of him awkwardly, as if he was afraid that the urge to harm him would somehow resurface. But the infant only continued to giggle and reach for his mentor.

Raiden's expression softened as Liu Kang's effervescent mood put him at ease. He held Liu Kang in a way that would be more comfortable with the child, in the process rewrapping the cloth that he had loosened when he had grabbed Liu Kang almost by the collar. Liu Kang clung eagerly to the deity's shoulder as Raiden tucked in the stray ends of the fabric.

Unexpectedly, however, Liu Kang reached out and placed a tiny, explorative hand on Raiden's chin, in the manner that all young children tried to make sense of their world, commanded only by their inquisitive instincts. Amused by Raiden's startled reaction, Liu Kang burst out into another fit of contagious giggles, clapping his hands at his mentor's surprise.

Raiden didn't know why he tried so hard to suppress the urge to grin; perhaps the feeling was just so foreign to him, or maybe he had just forgotten what muscles were meant for smiling after lack of use for all these years, but eventually a smirk broke out across the lower half of the thunder god's face as he looked back at the tiny Liu Kang, who continued to revel in peals of laughter at his teacher's expression.

Slowly, Raiden began to recognize the resurgence of compassion he harbored for his former student, especially now in his vulnerable state. He knew now that Liu Kang would be his responsibility until someone found the solution to the situation, but in all honesty, Raiden wasn't too bothered by the idea. It struck him suddenly that perhaps the predicament could have its benefits; Liu Kang obviously harbored no animosity towards Raiden in this state, and the thunder god wondered if maybe he would have the opportunity to mold his student as he saw fit.

It was time to start over.

* * *

**See? Babies make everything better. :)**

**Now that the craziness with school is mostly over, I can get back to writing this. Let's just hope it doesn't get cheesier. :P**


	5. Chapter 5

**I just realized something; this whole story becomes a lot more ironic if you consider the fact that in the original Japanese mythology, Raiden ate children (or at the very least, parts of them). That's not foreshadowing for anything, I'm just... just saying. :P**

* * *

All of the _miko_ huddled nervously together on the ground floor of the temple, still trembling minutes after Raiden had made his reappearance. All, however, save for Amaya, who stood apart from the group at the base of the stairs, her experience providing her only defense as she patiently awaited the thunder god's arrival. Despite the nagging from both the corner of her mind and pleas from the other _miko_ to return to the safety of the group, only one thing motivated her to stand up to the deity if need be.

She had heard a child's cry.

And then nothing.

So even though Amaya knew history had forced Raiden to make drastic decisions before, this was not a transgression with which she was willing to let him get off scot-free.

She remained planted in front of the stairs as the other miko urged her to come back to safety.

"_Amaya-san, please!"_ Fuuka pleaded with her sensei as the rest of the girls continued to cling to each other for security. _"Don't be rash! Come back here!"_

Amaya remained oblivious to her student's request. Indignant that her superior would leave his followers to cower in fear, Amaya clenched her fists and began her dangerous ascent to confront Raiden herself.

"_Amaya-san!"_ Fuuka cried out, this time breaking away from the group in an uncharacteristically bold fashion to retrieve her teacher by force.

Her plans were thwarted as the temple began to rumble ominously once more, stopping both maidens dead in their tracks.

Her concern for the other _miko_ finally overrunning her desire to tell Raiden off, Amaya looked over her shoulder to check on her students. As was probably to be expected, the group had huddled even more closely together, this time leaving Fuuka awkwardly suspended between her teacher and her colleagues.

Scared though they may have been, they were fine, prompting Amaya to look back up the stairs. When her eyes rested on the distinctive silhouette of a looming figure at the top of the flight, needless to say the eldest _miko_ was hardly surprised. Instead, she clenched her fists in preparation for what she knew could turn into an ugly confrontation.

She waited for the thunder deity to finish scanning his followers with his ethereal eyes. As Fuuka slowly shuffled backwards to cower with her friends, Amaya decided enough was enough.

"_Where is the child?"_ she demanded, keeping her expression rigid.

She could sense Raiden directing his gaze back towards her. Unwavering, Amaya continued to look him straight in the eyes, issuing a silent challenge to avoid her question.

Raiden began to descend the stairs slowly, inspiring the smallest bit of fear into Amaya for the first time, yet she kept her feet rooted to where she was standing. As the deity stepped out of the shadows, however, Amaya could see why he was being so deliberate with the pace of his walk.

The young child that he had taken with him was now resting happily in his arms, sucking obliviously on his thumb. Liu Kang swiveled his head around aimlessly and soon spotted the group of terrified girls on the floor, at whom he began to giggle raucously, taking them for new playmates.

Amaya looked in disbelief at the child, and then at Raiden. Her expression signaled a mixture of relief and confusion, and as Liu Kang reached out to her, she attempted to formulate some form of a coherent sentence. Her superior, however, beat her to the punch.

"_He is fine,"_ he responded, shifting Liu Kang so that the infant's outstretched hand wouldn't throw off his balance and send him tumbling out of the deity's grasp.

Always one to keep her wits about her, Amaya quickly regained her senses.

"_So it would seem,"_ she retorted bluntly, looking at Liu Kang and noticing the slightly amused expression Raiden wore, which surprised her a little, to say the least. She opened her arms in reciprocation to the baby's gesture, prompting Raiden to hand him over. The tiny champion, falling victim to his diminished attention span, soon forgot about his mentor and took to observing his new caretaker. The coos of the young women on the floor further defused the formerly tense situation.

Everyone continued to listen to Liu Kang babble as he tried to make sense of the woman now holding him. His fascination with the novel character satisfied, he quickly tired of gazing into Amaya's face and looked back to Raiden, wordlessly signaling his request to return to familiar arms, and spurring more _"awws"_ from the gaggle of girls on the floor. Raiden, however, left Liu Kang in the _miko's_ arms, observing him silently.

"_It is up to us to take care of him for now,"_ Raiden finally said, looking down to his followers. He received a multitude of reactions, ranging from giddy excitement to disgruntled annoyance. He turned back to Amaya, who had begun attempting to recapture the infant's interest. She looked back to the thunder deity as she continued to let Liu Kang fiddle with the hem of her temple robes.

"_And how long will that be?"_ she asked casually, but not without an edge of urgency. Clearly she was not keen on the idea of taking care of a young child when they were stranded inside a temple that rested in the middle of virtually nowhere.

Raiden's jaw went rigid at the tone of accusation in her question.

"_As long as is necessary,"_ he replied calmly, his comment carrying an undercurrent of mild warning to the maiden to watch her attitude when addressing him. He held out his hand, a gesture that Amaya knew constituted a silent demand to return Liu Kang to his custody. The matriarch complied, ignoring the wary look that Raiden gave her as she walked back down to the foot of the stairs to stand next to a still unnerved Fuuka, who unexpectedly spoke out next.

"_Raiden-sama,"_ she started, wringing her hands. _"How do you expect us to do this? We don't exactly have resources…"_ she trailed off, leaving Amaya to look back at their leader smugly for having predicted such a problem would arise.

Liu Kang unintentionally blew out a small bubble of saliva as Raiden held up a hand calmly.

"_Do not worry about such things,"_ he replied. _"I shall see to it that those matters are resolved."_

_"Yeah, well," _barked one of the more hardy, Osaka-bred _mikos_ in the back of the group. _"Who wants to volunteer to 'resolve' that smell?"_

Her comment suddenly made everybody all too aware of the stench that had begun to emanate from within the room. Many began pinching their noses; Amaya, however, scrunched hers as she continued to leer knowingly at Raiden, who had closed his eyes out of impatience, disgust, or some combination of the two. Liu Kang simply continued to giggle as Raiden held him out at half of an arm's length. While the deity was temporarily distracted, Amaya stepped back up and took the child off of his hands, but not without administering a warning to her employer.

"_I and the others will go along with this for now,"_ she muttered, keeping her voice low even though many of the others had begun to file out to avoid the terrible odor coming from the infant. _"But I hope to the Elder Gods you have some sort of plan."_

She took Liu Kang out of the room with her, again ignoring the heated gaze Raiden gave her as she walked away.

* * *

**Relatively short, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling again, because I really don't want to let this fic die. :C Of course, since I'm rushing through it a little, I may lose a few details or scenes I was planning on implementing. Oh, well.**

**Happy (super-belated) New Year! *confetti and streamers***


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay; it's taken forever to just find some free time and write this thing. :/ Unfortunately, I didn't do what I normally do and write down every event that was supposed to happen for this story, so there are probably some major scenes that I'll leave out and have to go back and put in later. Nevertheless, this is what I have right now, so I might as well go ahead with it. _C'est le vie._**

* * *

The infant giggled as he tried to look at all the faces competing for his attention. About five or so _miko_ pushed each other out of the way for a chance to tend to the bubbly child resting on the slab of marble in the middle of one of the temple floors.

"_Aww!"_ some of them cooed, causing a few of their coworkers in the background to roll their eyes before returning to their chores. Playful fingertips reached out to poke the child's plump belly, eliciting more delighted squeals from both parties.

"_Enough,"_ barked a familiar voice from behind them. Immediately, three of the maidens scuttled away, leaving Fuuka and another girl with Liu Kang. Fuuka looked back to her mentor and saw her standing with Raiden, who dwarfed the already diminutively-statured shrine overseer. The thunder god carried with him a large burlap sack, which he held tightly at the top to keep from spilling over, leading Fuuka to assume that the contents were the much-needed supplies that he had promised to provide.

"_Thank you,"_ Raiden added calmly in an attempt to offset his employee's brash demand. He walked over to the slab and set down the bag before picking up an eagerly awaiting Liu Kang.

"_We can handle it from here,"_ he told the two remaining girls, who nodded in response.

"_All right, you heard him,"_ Amaya barked again, rendering Raiden's attempt to peacefully dismiss the girls null as she pushed them both away. _"Get back to work!"_

The deity sighed and closed his eyes, leaving the child in his arms an opportunity to begin reaching for his hat again. Raiden opened his eyes to find Liu Kang attempting to nibble on the edge of the straw's circumference.

"No, no, no!" Raiden exclaimed, pulling a confused Liu Kang's hands away from the crooked rim and removing his sedge hat, setting it down on the table next to the bag. "That is not food!"

Liu Kang only looked back at him in perplexed hurt, apparently thinking that he had just been reprimanded. Seeing what his rash action had done to the child, Raiden frantically began to rummage in the bag for something that would pacify the infant champion.

"Wait! Uh…" Raiden stammered, searching the sack's contents and pulling out the first thing that wasn't a pack of diapers, as far as he could tell. He eventually pulled out a colorful ring of toy keys, and as the plastic rattled in his hand, Liu Kang quickly became distracted by the arrangement of pastels. Eager to play with a new toy, the miniature warrior reflexively outstretched his arms. Raiden sighed in relief as he handed the ring over, thankful that his quick raid of a Miki House outlet in Osaka had proven useful.

He set Liu Kang down on the table, leaving the infant to examine the object, as all young children do, with his mouth. As Liu Kang nibbled on the colorful plastic, Raiden searched the bag for what he had really spent the last few hours slipping undetected from one convenience store to another. He pulled out a can of powdered infant formula and an empty bottle and placed them both on the marble next to Liu Kang, who swiveled his head around to inspect the green, cartoon dragon painted onto the side of the bottle. As he traded in one piece of colorful plastic for another, Raiden pulled out a jug of water, placing it on the table before picking up the can and pulling off the plastic lid. Raiden took the bottle from Liu Kang before the latter had time to inspect it thoroughly, and as the child's interest soon drifted back to determining the function of the keys, the deity unscrewed the bottle and used the plastic spoon attached to the side of the product to scoop two teaspoons of formula into the bottle.

By now Liu Kang had managed to break his transfixion on the toy and looked to his caretaker, curious to see what magical chemical it was to which Raiden was adding water. The young warrior looked with fascination to the concoction as the deity shook the bottle to mix the formula properly. After a few seconds, he stopped, checked to make sure it had mixed evenly, and proceeded to test the milk on his hand, ensuring that he had not swiped a defective bottle. Luckily it seemed to be fine, and Raiden gave the bottle over to the eager Liu Kang, holding it for the infant before he was sure the miniature champion was capable of handling it himself.

As Liu Kang continued to drink his long-awaited milk, Amaya returned to the table, observing both the child and the thunder god as he resealed the can of formula. Raiden picked up Liu Kang, who kept his attention fixed on completing the bottle, and turned around to face the temple matron.

_"Keep an eye on him for a while,"_ Raiden told her, handing Liu Kang over gently. _"I need to find something to keep the food cold."_

Amaya knew this meant he would be on his way out soon for another convenience store raid and took Liu Kang in her arms.

_"Well, don't get home too late,"_ Amaya responded, a hint of mockery in her voice. _"Wouldn't want him to miss daddy."_

She looked up at Raiden's face for a sign of a reaction. All she got was a blink.

_"_…_That was a joke,"_ she clarified flatly, returning her own deadpan stare.

_"I know,"_ Raiden responded, just as matter-of-factly with a tone that seemed to imply he had not meant to offend her. _"It was funny."_

His face remained a blank slate. Even after all these years, it was still sometimes difficult for Amaya to detect Raiden's brand of sarcasm, if he was using one at all.

_"Glad we cleared that up, then,"_ she said, fixing her grip on Liu Kang and turning to walk out of the room. The child looked over her shoulder towards Raiden as they both moved farther away, popping the bottle out of his mouth once to give the deity a toothless grin. Evidently, however, Liu Kang had guzzled the formula a little too quickly, for once he stopped he hiccuped and began to giggle at the sound he was not aware he had inadvertently made, keeping his gaze fixed on the deity as the distance between the two grew.

Despite himself, Raiden became aware of the fact that he was fighting off the smile that tugged at one corner of his lips. He caught one last glance of Liu Kang before Amaya made the turn around the doorway.

However, he did have a job to do. Raiden picked up his sedge hat from the table and placed it back on his head before lifting a hand to the heavens and summoning the lightning bolt that carried him out of the tower.

* * *

That and the next few days proved to be much less easygoing at the monastery. An irritated Kung Lao easily grew more agitated by the day as his and other students' quests for Omegis continued to come up with no promising results. Each morning Kung Lao woke up half hoping the sorceress had decided to pack her bags and set off for a new home somewhere she could torture more unsuspecting mortals. Unfortunately, each day he would come home to some sign that the witch was still around to play with her pawns, each note signed by the familiar lip stain.

'_Nice try.'_

'_Better luck next time.'_

'_The apple does not fall far from the tree, does it?'_

Once in a while, an unsuspecting monk would confusedly mistake the shreds of paper falling from one of the windows for early snow.

* * *

**Ohmygoshwhydoeseverythingend upsomuchlongerthanIplanforit o X_X**

**Update coming soon. A million thanks to Obelisk of Light for proofreading. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn't long before things at the temple had managed to fall into a comfortable routine; every morning, Amaya and Fuuka (the only two maidens who commonly stayed overnight, seeing as the others were college students who, not sharing Fuuka's enthusiasm for their profession, often left late whenever weather didn't keep them stranded) would awaken to the sound of distant cries from one of the upper floors of the temple.

The first morning, Amaya had quickly risen out of her bed to tend to the child before Fuuka had had the chance to rub the sleep out of her eyes. However, much to Amaya's surprise, the elder _miko_ had not even made it to the door before she heard the infant's cries cease altogether.

Cautiously, she grabbed the bronze ring handle and took care to push the door open quietly, which had turned out to be quite a difficult task as the centuries-old entrance creaked obnoxiously. Deciding not to cause any further disturbance, she settled for peeking through the small crack she had managed to create.

She had seen a distinctive silhouette cradle something in its arms, and could hear a soft burbling coming from within the room. A pair of white dots turned to look silently in her direction, and, seeing that things were very much under control before she had even arrived, Amaya nodded and closed the door. The days afterwards, she and Fuuka would continue to be stirred out of their sleep by the infant's whining, only to soon hear the silence that told them they were free to drift back to their slumber.

As other temple maidens arrived for the days' work, many would try to make time to play and interact with the infectiously bubbly little child. It soon became clear, though, that it was Raiden's responsibility to keep an eye on the child as Amaya barked at the girls to continue their work. Many began to look forward to the times when Raiden would be required to leave to acquire more supplies, leaving Liu Kang in their adoring care.

When he was present at the temple, however, most of the girls took care to notice that the two were nearly inseparable. Between cleaning, collecting offerings, and maintaining the temple in general, the girls had little time to spend actually interacting with the baby, leaving it up to Raiden to keep him entertained. It was not uncommon to see the deity keep an eye on Liu Kang as the infant occupied himself with his various toys, and on more than one occasion, the _miko_ could swear that they could see Raiden playing along. They stayed respectfully, but smugly, quiet on the matter. And when Raiden left, several of the girls noted a dour turn in Liu Kang's temperament, to the point where they would take turns handling the child when he would begin to cry.

As the days wore on, however, many around the temple began to notice marked signs of exhaustion in the thunder god. Although they weren't sure Raiden was capable of getting physically tired, signs of the mental toil that watching over a young child demanded became evident in Raiden's face. Worry over possible catastrophe that could befall the child when he wasn't around, keeping up with Liu Kang's emotional highs and lows, and the occasional concern that crept into Raiden's mind about what would happen in the future, all began to take a visible toll on the deity. As always, the legendarily perceptive Amaya was the first to speak out on the matter.

"_Why don't you go rest for a while?"_ she offered on the third day straight of the ordeal, with Fuuka at her side. It took Raiden, who was weary with fatigue, a second to register that he had been addressed, and although he had been staring off into space in their direction, he just now took a good look at the both of them. He stared blankly for a moment, indicating that he had not completely heard her suggestion. Liu Kang rested comfortably in his arms, and oblivious to Raiden's drained demeanor, was actively vying for his caretaker's attention.

"_We can take care of him for a while, if you wish,"_ Fuuka clarified for her mentor. Both of them looked at Raiden for some kind of response, which was not as immediate as they had expected. Although she couldn't explain how, exactly, Amaya sensed the faraway look creeping back into Raiden's gaze.

Liu Kang tugged at the frogs on Raiden's _changshan_, finally snapping the thunder god out of his dazed stupor and catching his attention. The infant beamed back up at his tired overseer, giving Raiden time to pause and think over his companions' offer.

"…_Perhaps you are right,"_ Raiden mumbled. Taking that as a 'yes,' Fuuka made the mistake of extending her arms to take Liu Kang. She had not expected Raiden to jerk the child back like she had tried to steal a precious artifact.

The younger maiden held up her hands as a peace offering, signaling Amaya to rush to her defense.

"_Calm down!"_ she told Raiden, waiting for him to relax from his defensive pose. _"Nothing will happen to him."_

At her assurance, Raiden settled down and looked back at Liu Kang, who seemed to find the entire situation incredibly entertaining. Raiden realized with a sigh that it was his stress that had caused him to react so harshly; the maidens really did have a point.

"…_Very well,"_ he responded, readjusting his grip on Liu Kang. _"A few hours of meditation should do some good."_

He watched Fuuka nod happily in agreement. However, it was Amaya's turn to mistakenly reach for Liu Kang. Again, Raiden drew him back, though not as fiercely as before.

"_For both of us,"_ he added, his tone and glare heavily insinuating that it would be he who would continue to keep an eye on the child.

Both Amaya and Fuuka looked at each other. A silent understanding passed between the two of them, and Amaya nodded to her pupil.

"_As you wish,"_ the elder maiden told him, discreetly tugging on Fuuka's sleeve to draw her student away. As the young girl followed her teacher out of the room, Raiden closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation.

The only sound in the temple was that of Liu Kang giggling and hiccupping in his arms.

* * *

The familiar glow from the candles provided barely enough light for the thunder god to set the infant, swaddled in soft cloth, down into the basket he had brought upstairs with them. Liu Kang continued to look up at Raiden with dark, wondering eyes. He emitted another gurgling noise, evidently still thinking that his guardian was going to play some kind of game with him. Fatigued now more than ever, Raiden looked solemnly down on the round face that stared up at him from the bundle of fabric. He knew he couldn't risk Liu Kang fidgeting his way out and coming near one of the candles while he was meditating. There was only one way that had been proven to help the baby fall asleep.

Raiden began humming an old Chinese lullaby as he gently rocked the makeshift crib back and forth. Although he was clearly not the god of music, as made obvious by the way his voice struggled to move up and down from within an impossibly low, almost imperceptible range, he hoped that somewhere in his former student's deep subconscious rested the memory of the somewhat familiar (though now a bit mangled) tune.

Raiden had no idea how long he kept up the impromptu solo act, finishing only when he was fairly sure he had run out of lyrics. In his exhaustion, he had probably repeated a verse or two unintentionally and had almost managed to hum himself to sleep. He struggled to open his eyes, the lids of which felt like they were made of lead, and stirred himself out of his stupor long enough to see that the infant had fallen comfortably asleep in his cradle.

Raiden let his hand drop to his side. It was entirely possible that he could have dozed off into a trance where he was standing, but he made the final effort of turning around and dragging himself to the circle he had set up for his meditation session.

The deity took care to set himself down lightly, which was easier said than done, as he wished for nothing more than to simply throw his three-hundred and fifty pound frame down onto the ground and be done with it. He restrained himself, however, and sat upright within the area circumscribed by candles.

He turned to check on Liu Kang one last time. Although there was little possibility that the child would wake up anytime soon, he did stir slightly before settling back down into the crude cradle.

Sighing and acknowledging that he had worried enough within the last three days, Raiden turned back around to prepare for his meditation. Rolling his shoulders and placing his hands in front of him so that only his fingertips touched, the exhausted thunder god took a deep, cleansing breath.

_Focus. Clear the mind._

Raiden repeated this mantra, an aid to which he normally wouldn't resort. Meditation was normally second nature to him, something that came as easily as breathing. With a bit of annoyance, Raiden soon realized that he was beginning to focus too much on focusing. Shaking his head in frustration, he cleared the words out of his head and tried again.

_Forget your worldly troubles. Exhale. _

Soon the familiar sensation of nothingness began to creep back into the deity's head; nothingness accompanied by a strange, pulling feeling, like something was tugging his mind into an unfamiliar abyss…

Raiden jerked himself back into full consciousness, effectively eliminating the hold sleep had begun to take on him. He cursed himself for not being able to accomplish what had come to him so easily before; sleep was supposed to be essential only for mortals. Why, then, was he struggling to fight such an earthly, human urge?

The thunder god despaired in silence for a moment, letting all of his concerns and worries flood back to him. It was no use. Until he figured out what he would do with Liu Kang, he wouldn't be able to assuage his conscience. But he wouldn't be able to think straight until he figured out how to get a handle on the entire situation…

Raiden buried his face in his hands, shutting out the million nagging thoughts that ate away at his mind like hungry demons, if only for a moment. Knowing that he only had that moment to act before the thoughts would attempt another invasion, Raiden pulled himself upright and took a deep breath, quickly making a gesture with his right hand so that his index and little fingers stood up, his thumb resting lightly on his folded ring and middle fingers. Instantly, The _mudra_ seemed to have its intended effect, momentarily dispelling the negative thoughts that had threatened to take over.

Raiden exhaled deeply, counting and keeping heavy control of his breathing rate. He opened his eyes again, looking at the candle directly in front of him, his only weapon against the thoughts that closed in around him, suffocating him.

For the next minute he focused on nothing but the candle, using the same technique he had taught his students when they had first begun learning how to meditate. For an instant, Raiden broke his focus from the candle to lament over how he, a figure of infinite wisdom and experience, was reduced to using the meditational equivalent of training wheels.

_Well,_ Raiden thought resignedly to himself. _If this is what it takes, so be it. Better not to fight it at all._

Settling for what seemed to be the only thing working, Raiden rearranged his hands so that his left enclosed the index of his right in a loose fist. He took one final breath in, counting to an endlessly rehearsed rhythm, and exhaled deeply, expelling all of the worries that had burdened his mind in the last three days.

He could feel the pressure dissolve away.

His mind began to melt to nothingness.

_There is only the candle…_

* * *

The last of the flames faltered and snuffed itself out, leaving behind a smoking trail that was swallowed by the darkness it had created.

The room remained completely silent. Not even the sound of the rushing wind or rain outside seemed to be able to penetrate through the temple walls. The room was, in effect, a void of all external disturbances.

The figure within remained completely still, indifferent to any change that had occurred in his surroundings. A minute passed without any sign of life in the room.

Finally, knowing from somewhere in deep within his oasis of solitude that it was time to come back to earth, Raiden inhaled deeply. Two floating white dots appeared in the middle of the room as the divine being opened his eyes slowly, taking care to exit his serene state gradually.

Letting his breath out slowly, Raiden bent forward and dropped his hands in front of him, leaning his weight of his knees. He shook his head in dismay, realizing that this had been by far one of his least fulfilling meditation settings. Still, he figured, at least it had been _something._

Lighting a spark at the end of his fingertips, he reached forward and reignited the candle in front of him for a source of light. Raiden paused and observed the flame flickering for a moment. Then, after stretching out his arms and rotating his shoulders, he got up and turned around to attend to his student, who, Raiden noted, had been incredibly quiet.

"All right, Liu Kang," he muttered, throwing his elbows behind him to stretch his back. "Nap-time is over."

Raiden opened his eyes again and looked to the spot where he had set down Liu Kang's cradle.

He stopped and stared, puzzled.

Perhaps he had put it on his left?

He swiveled his head around and looked on the other side of the circle, only to find the floor there just as bare and deserted. Nobody else was in the room with him.

Panicking, and nonsensically looking in every direction despite knowing that he could see into absolutely every corner in the room, Raiden called out his student's name in confused alarm.

"_Liu Kang?!"_ he cried out, hoping that even if the infant couldn't understand his own name, at least he would react to the noise. But the deity heard no response.

Not thinking twice, Raiden teleported out of the room, extinguishing the candle as he made his exit.

* * *

Had anyone been on the other floors of the temple, they would only have had a split second to see the outline of bright light that popped in and out systematically. But there was no one available to witness the harried god of thunder as he entered one room, quickly scanned the floor, saw nothing, and departed hastily.

Frustrated with a lack of direction, and growing more unnerved by the moment, Raiden flashed into the ground floor and began to scour each and every corner. He inspected every inch almost religiously, his breathing growing more ragged as he came up with nothing at each turn.

How could this have happened? Even while meditating, never had there been something or someone who could slip past undetected by the heightened senses of a deity. Was it possible that Raiden actually _had_ fallen asleep, after all?

He cursed himself out loud, whirling back around to see what options he had left. There was nobody in the main hall, no one in the _miko_**_'_** resting quarters; nobody seemed to be in the temple at all.

Raiden stopped for a moment to let the thought register again.

…No one _in_ the temple.

Completely disregarding running as an option altogether, Raiden flew out the front entrance at an immeasurable speed; the ancient bronze doors fluttered open as if they were made of cardboard, creaking slowly in the wake of the long-gone deity's path.

There was a river that flowed directly to the north of the temple's façade. Here a frantic Raiden paused, looking east and west, the latter direction which led to a thick brush of deciduous forest.

_Perfect cover for a kidnapper._

The thought had barely completed itself in Raiden's mind before he took off westbound, clearing a good deal of the plants and branches in his path. He ignored the twigs and branches that left scratch marks all over what little of his skin was exposed, and simply continued to crash right through the overgrown foliage until he reached a clearing midway through the woods.

He stopped himself in midair, floating by the small shrine that had been erected next to the river centuries ago. Raiden swiveled his head around quickly, desperately looking for a clue to go in some direction. He could fly up and get a bird's eye view, but it was doubtful he would be able to see through the canopy. The thief would most likely stick to the river, but if he or she had decided to wander off into the heart of the forest, then the water would be of no use to him at all.

Raiden's initial alarm began to melt into fear as he realized he was running out of time. Despairing, he cried out his pupil's name one last time.

No cry. No laughter.

Nothing.

Raiden unconsciously floated down to the forest floor, his hopes shattered. He had failed. Again he had been given the opportunity to make things right, and again he had made it all unspeakably worse. It didn't matter who had done it. It didn't matter where Liu Kang was.

He was gone.

Under Raiden's watch.

All the thunder god could do was watch the water run by as he reproached himself for his inexcusable failure. His job was to protect others, and he could not even take care of a child.

He was worthless.

Slowly, the downcast divinity dragged one foot behind the other, stepping back from the riverbank and turning to go back to his temple. He didn't know what he would do once he got there, but what did it matter? There was no point without…

He stopped.

A sound had caught him dead in his tracks; he couldn't be sure it wasn't just the babble of the river, but in it was just the slightest flicker of hope that Raiden had not been hearing things, and he was all too willing to hold on to that notion now.

Straining to hear over the rushing water, Raiden looked back in the direction of the alleged sound, remaining deathly still, waiting to hear it again.

There was nothing.

And then the sound of an infant's laughter.

The paper tag on the shrine twisted and fluttered in the wind left behind by Raiden's mad dash in the direction of the sound. This time, he flew directly over the river, not risking missing anything else as he sped through the woods. In less than a minute, he had covered more than thirty meters, and halted himself in midair upon spotting a flash of pastel in the dense forest undergrowth.

A Chinese newborn looked giddily upon the familiar face from his cradle as Raiden stared back in incredulousness. Unaware of the disbelief in his caretaker's face, the infant Liu Kang reached out a hand towards his former mentor.

Immediately Raiden floated down and took the baby out of his basket, checking to make sure that no harm had fallen upon the child in his absence. Oblivious to his guardian's fervent inspection, Liu Kang grabbed the amulet fastened onto Raiden's silk chest covering, and mindlessly began to nibble on the edge.

Relieved beyond all measure, Raiden made no attempt to stop Liu Kang from playing with his new toy. In fact, he unfastened the artifact from his robe and handed it over to the child, who grinned and took it happily, biting on the edge as he looked up with bright eyes at his teacher.

Raiden smiled back down at his student, thankful that the entire ordeal seemed to be over. Over, however, except for the sound of twigs cracking as a newcomer stepped out into the open.

Depleted of all rational thought, Raiden's instinct commanded him to shield Liu Kang as lightning collected in his left hand, which he immediately directed at the intruder.

A terrified Fuuka yelped and fell to the ground, cowering and begging her employer to spare her.

"_Please, Raiden-sama!"_ she cried out. _"I didn't mean it!"_

Realization dawning, the electricity in Raiden's hand died down to a fizzling crackle as he looked at his follower in confusion.

"_What…?"_ Raiden started before taking a step back and observing the absurd situation in its entirety. He started over.

"_What do you mean? I mean, what did you_ not _mean? What 'it'? What is going on?"_

Fuuka continued to shiver even as her superior rattled off questions in an uncharacteristically rapid manner, realizing that he was just as thrown off and baffled by the situation as she was. Finding some comfort in this, she stopped shaking somewhat and addressed him again.

"_It was Amaya's idea,"_ she explained, shifting so that she was kneeling in deference to Raiden. _"We thought you would be able to concentrate better if we took the child off of your hands for a while…"_

She trailed off, obviously realizing how ironic the decision had turned out to be.

Raiden continued to look at her in disbelief. But out of the sea of questions flooding his mind, from _Are you serious?_ to _What made you think that was a good idea?_ to _You thought you could bring a child into the woods?_, only one surfaced.

"_Where is she?"_

"_Right here," _came the nonchalant reply from somewhere in the thicket. The elder maiden clambered out of the overgrown underbrush, holding another basket, filled with fish from the river wrapped in cloth so they wouldn't mix with the freshly picked berries that occupied the other half.

"_The kid looked like he needed some fresh air,"_ she remarked, popping a berry into her mouth. _"From the looks of it, so do you. So, everybody's happy."_

It was Amaya's turn to be the object of Raiden's disbelieving look. She raised an eyebrow as she waited for him to speak, which looked like it would take a while as he tried to comprehend one of his maiden's bouts of bizarre logic. Soon realizing that he was fighting a losing battle, Raiden shook his head and covered his eyes with his free palm.

"_Please do not do this again,"_ he requested plainly. He looked back up to see his followers' reactions. While he received an obedient nod from Fuuka, all he got from Amaya was an eye roll and a spit as she got rid of the seeds left in her mouth.

"_Whatever,"_ the elder maiden replied. Used to this kind of response from her, Raiden decided not to push the issue any further. Instead, he directed his attention back to Liu Kang, who had somehow, in the midst of the chaotic encounter, managed to fall asleep on Raiden's shoulder, theamulet still in his tiny mouth.

Amaya took note of Raiden's amused reaction and spoke up.

"_You were pretty worried for a minute there, huh?"_ she said, observing Raiden's surprised expression upon hearing the question. Unsure of an answer to give, but caving in to his renewed fatigue, the thunder god gave the simplest response he could.

"_Yes,"_ he replied. _"Absolutely."_

"_All right,"_ Amaya retorted, popping another berry into her mouth. _"So what do you plan to do once the week is over?"_

Raiden paused again. He looked down at Fuuka, who similarly seemed to be awaiting a reply, and then back at Amaya, who still had one eyebrow raised inquisitively.

He did not answer her. And after the whole ordeal that had occurred, he did not feel compelled to.

* * *

**This is quite possibly the longest chapter I have ever written. Hope you all enjoyed the challenge.**

**Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and Obelisk of Light for proofreading; the story's starting to wind down now, so expect to see the rest of this wrap up in about two more chapters or so.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, guys, long time no… submit, I guess. :P I know it's been a while, but I'm actually really determined not to let this fic die (especially since I'm so close to the end). Now that I finally have a short time to just work on whatever, I'm gonna try and hammer out the rest of this thing before life gets crazy again. So I'd like to thank my watchers for being patient, and without further ado, get on with this thing. :)**

* * *

Raiden took care to gently set down the basket in which the drowsy Liu Kang napped quietly on one of the benches in the shrine entrance, the two _miko_ trailing behind him (and Amaya still snacking on her hoard of berries). Fuuka came up to her employer's side, smiling down on the sleeping child.

"_He's so calm around you,"_ she complimented him as she tucked a loose corner over Liu Kang's exposed shoulder. _"He hasn't made a peep since we came back."_

Still exhausted, Raiden nonetheless smiled wearily at her comment. Brushing some stray dirt off of her _hakama_, Fuuka looked back up at the tired thunder god and noted his expression.

"…_Perhaps you could use a nap, as well,"_ she joked lightly.

"_But not before taking care of the door first,"_ Amaya interjected, popping another berry into her mouth and jerking her head back to the open doorway, the gargantuan bronze panels still blown wide open in the wake of the deity's frenzied search. And judging by the look on Amaya's face, she had no intention of wasting her and Fuuka's precious energy on the doors that she knew would take no effort to handle from Raiden, even in his fatigued state.

Sighing, but knowing his employee was not going to budge anytime soon out of sympathy for him, Raiden turned around and went to close the doors. Unbeknownst to him, Liu Kang soon began to stir in his makeshift crib, prompting Fuuka to start rocking it slowly as Raiden attempted to pull the giant doors shut quietly.

Finally managing to bring the doors to a close, in his exhaustion Raiden almost missed the strange light that began to emit from his chest. Soon, however, the glow from his amulet caught his attention, and after checking it to make sure it wasn't some trick of the light reflecting off of it at some odd angle, he turned around for the temple maidens to see for themselves.

"_What's wrong?"_ Amaya asked, causing Fuuka to look up from Liu Kang and notice the strange blue light coming from her superior's amulet. His interest piqued, Raiden detached the relic from his robe and inspected it more closely, watching the dragon insignia etched below the crystal fade in and out as the cerulean glow pulsed slowly.

"_It is a distress call from the Order of Light," _Raiden answered, refastening the artifact to the hem of his robe before looking back up at his assistants. To their surprise, Raiden did not seem to be considering taking any kind of immediate action.

"_Well?"_ Amaya barked at him, placing her free hand on her hip. _"Are you going to do anything about it?"_

Raiden did not answer her. It took a moment for the temple maidens to realize the unsure expression on his face was directed at the child still sleeping in the cradle, obviously fearing a repeat of the day's events. Irritated, Amaya finally dropped her basket down on the bench next to Liu Kang.

"_Oh, for Fujin's sake!"_ she cried in annoyance, ignoring Fuuka's pleas to lower her voice for the baby's sake. _"Would you stop worrying? The kid is fine. The monks need you right now; what are you waiting around for?"_

Raiden raised a hand to silence her, his expression growing stern in response to her unprovoked outburst.

"_Calm down,"_ he ordered her in an unusually authoritative tone. _"I will go. I just need your word that you will not try anything like what you did again."_

"_We won't,"_ Amaya promised half-heartedly, prompting Fuuka to whirl her head in her oblivious mentor's direction at the implication of there being a 'we' in the matter.

"_I am serious,"_ Raiden retorted angrily, slowly becoming enraged at the blatant lack of concern in his maiden's voice. _"No going outside."_

"_Fine," _Amaya responded nonchalantly, rolling her eyes.

"_No midnight strolls."_

"_Okay."_

"_No berry hunts."_

"_Got it."_

"_No impromptu dips in the river."_

"_Can you get out?!"_ Amaya blurted back angrily, fed up with her boss's insinuations. Obviously still slightly concerned and irritated, but evidently feeling Amaya's promises were at some level genuine, Raiden nodded and raised a hand to the heavens, summoning the lightning bolt that carried him out of his temple. After the rumble of the ensuing thunder cleared out, both women could hear the sound of torrential downpour beginning just outside the building's walls.

"_Wow,"_ Fuuka commented, slightly awed. _"When he said no going out, he wasn't kidding."_

Amaya simply scrunched her nose in annoyance.

* * *

A group of monks sat in quiet rumination in a small, enclosed area. A few candles offered little illumination, only revealing slivers of orange fabric here and there and reflecting off of many of their clean-shaven heads. Usually there was at least some accompanying light streaming through the hole in the wall that faced east to meet the rising sun, but all that could be seen through the rudimentary window was the black mass of night that currently cloaked the grounds in their entirety. Around the monastery, activity at this hour was rare, but this was not the meditation session it appeared to be on the surface. The group was waiting.

Or, at least, most were.

A low snorting sound could be heard from a corner of the room, snapping many out of their patient reverie to locate the source. After several moments passed with no disturbance, a few attributed it to the wind, or possibly small animals scrounging around outside.

But then it came again, louder and more drawn out than before. One monk who found himself sitting immediately to the side of the source began nudging him, attempting to awaken his friend from his drowsy stupor.

"Kung Lao!" the monk whispered urgently, hoping the Shaolin fighter would wake up before his rude snoring became a disturbance to the others, some of whom had already begun to look back at their ally in confusion. Seeing no other option, the monk looked around quickly, and, judging that it was dark enough that no one would see his action and reprimand him for it, socked Kung Lao across the shoulder in order to wake him up. The latter snapped out of his mini nap with a start, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looking around confusedly.

"…! Wha…" grumbled an exhausted Kung Lao, struggling to keep his head up after countless nights of searching for the witch in the woods in vain. "Is Raiden here?"

"Not yet," replied the grandmaster from the front of the room, eyes still closed in unwavering patience. He had given no sign that he had heard the disturbance from behind him, but most of the other monks knew better than to assume that their leader was not vigilant of his surroundings at all times.

"Keep your eyes open, Kung Lao," the elder admonished him calmly from the front, not even bothering to look behind him.

"That will not be necessary."

The monks, including the drowsy Kung Lao and the grandmaster, all turned to look at their guest, standing as expected in the open passageway to the meditation chamber. Two glowing white orbs seemed to float in the air, signaling many to deflect their gaze downward out of respect (except for Kung Lao, who at his level of exhaustion was capable only of yawning in response; luckily Raiden seemed to take no offense).

The deity strolled slowly down the aisle between the rows of monks to meet their headmaster, who dipped his head out of courtesy for the group's true leader as he approached. Etiquette usually dictated that he keep his gaze averted until the god addressed him, but the grandmaster knew that Raiden tended to be lax with such conventions, and so instead took his ally's silence as an invitation to look back up.

"Why have you called me here?" Raiden inquired calmly. The other monks took his question as the all-clear to lift their heads up, as well.

"It is regarding Omegis," the grandmaster replied just as coolly. "It would seem Kung Lao has still not been able to locate her."

The other members of the Order of Light looked back to their friend, who had been startled out of his stupor at the mention of his name. Pinching the bridge of his nose to help himself temporarily regain his sense of his surroundings, Kung Lao looked back up at Raiden, evidently expecting some kind of reprimanding from his mentor. Under his heavy, sleep-addled eyelids, Kung Lao could only make out the shapes of light cast on and by Raiden: a blurry outline of candlelight and the two white dots that stared back at the tired Shaolin.

"…Just as well."

At first, many, especially Kung Lao, who woke up a bit upon hearing an answer he had not expected, seemed to wonder if they had heard their leader correctly. Wasn't Raiden supposed to have been furious at the news, considering the mood he had appeared to be in the last time the monks had seen him? Even the grandmaster seemed a bit perplexed at his superior's nonchalant reaction.

"…I beg your pardon?" the elder asked, craning his neck so his ancient ears would be able to hear Raiden's clarification, if he would offer one.

"I would imagine she would not make herself easy to find," Raiden replied matter-of-factly. "This is a game to her. A round of cat-and-mouse with Kung Lao."

All eyes turned to the warrior, who was now wide awake and alarmed at Raiden's statement.

"Well," the grandmaster interjected unsurely, trying to find a way to relate the urgency of the situation to Raiden tactfully. "Regardless, the fact of the matter is that we need to find her within the next day. Our week is almost up."

Suddenly Raiden remembered the deadline that he had set for his followers; indeed, six days had passed, almost without him realizing it. Then again, he had been in a drastically different state of mind when he had given them a time limit; surely they would be relieved to hear he had changed his mind.

"Do not worry about the time," Raiden assured them with a dismissive wave of his hand. "She has to turn up eventually; take as long as you need."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air after his statement. Arching an eyebrow, Raiden turned to observe his comrades' hesitant expressions.

"What is the matter?" he inquired.

"We… didn't exactly remember to tell you, but…" the elder started, now averting his gaze as he felt Raiden's glare grow more heated. "There is only one more day until the spell on Liu Kang is no longer reversible."

He heard no response, but dared himself to look up at his leader. Unfortunately, the information seemed to be news to Raiden as they had expected, but luckily (at least for the grandmaster) the deity appeared more to be merely caught off-guard than enraged. Taking advantage of the opportunity before Raiden's mood had a chance to change, the elder bowed his head and quickly and rather pathetically added, "That is why we have called you here."

Again the Order of Light waited patiently for their founder's reaction, watching his face attentively in case there was to be a repeat of his almost explosive response from last time. However, all they observed was the thunder god's confounded expression slowly melt into deep contemplation. Then, bizarrely, Raiden closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, apparently at ease with the revelation.

"…Then I guess there is not much that we can do," he commented flatly, leading many in the room to stare at him incredulously. What could _possibly_ be going on in the thunder god's head?

Although he did not let it on, Raiden knew why they were all looking at him like he had grown a second head; but he did have his reasons. While he would never tell the others, he couldn't help but feel that things were better this way; for him, at least. This way, every time he saw Liu Kang, he could see his former student's eyes light up with joy, instead of darken with animosity and resentment. He could watch over him and keep him from any and all harm, even if sometimes it felt like Raiden couldn't do the same for his entire realm. Most of all, from a training standpoint, Liu Kang was a clean slate; Raiden could instruct him and shape him in his own image, instead of having to fix the years of bad habits even the monks couldn't have erased that Liu Kang had developed from years living in America. What incentive was there to reverse all of this?

"'_Not much we can do?'_" the thunder god could hear Kung Lao mock him darkly from the back of the room. Raiden turned around to see that his other student had suddenly gained the energy to stand up and challenge his mentor, his furious gaze emphasized by the dark circles under the monk's eyes. "Who will fight in Mortal Kombat?"

"The next tournament will not be for another five hundred years," Raiden defended himself indignantly. "Liu Kang will be plenty old enough by then."

"That is the problem, my lord," the grandmaster interrupted meekly from where he sat. "Until the next tournament, remember that Liu Kang's aging will be suspended."

Finally it appeared that comprehension had dawned on Raiden. The area where he stood temporarily grew brighter as the thunder god's eyes widened in horror.

So there really was no alternative. The problem had to be fixed immediately, or else Earthrealm would have no champion.

For a moment, Raiden seemed too conflicted to answer to his adherent's remark. The grandmaster sat with the others in uncomfortable silence as they witnessed their leader looking down in tormented resignation. But knowing that they were losing precious time, the eldest monk stood up slowly and turned to address the disappointed divinity.

"Lord Raiden," the monk stated calmly, trying to avoid agitating the sulking deity. "I know this puts you between a rock and a hard place, and I am sure your intentions are good, but we need to find a solution to this before it's too late."

Raiden glanced aside to look at his friend momentarily before turning to see the other Order members. They, too, shared their master's concerned expression, especially Kung Lao, who Raiden knew was likely desperate at this point to see his dear friend once more.

Raiden paused for a moment, taking their distressed faces into account. True, the thought of losing Liu Kang as he was now troubled him somewhat, but by keeping him in this state, everyone ended up losing. Plus, Raiden wasn't sure if he could handle taking care of an infant for five hundred years after how stressful the last week had proven to be.

The towering deity sighed and closed his eyes in acquiescent acceptance. Many of the others leaned forward hopefully.

"Very well," Raiden assented. "We will go out and search for Omegis as soon as possible."

All of the members in the room let out sighs of relief at the sign that their leader had finally decided to aid them in their efforts.

"All of you," Raiden commanded, switching suddenly to a more familiar, directing tone. "Get some sleep. Especially you, Kung Lao."

The young monk, who had once again begun to drift off into another superficial slumber, sat upright reflexively at the sound of his name.

"You will be coming with me in a few hours," Raiden informed him. Kung Lao's eyes widened at the implication that he would only have a few hours to catch up on all the precious opportunities for sleep he had missed in the last week, but the meaning behind Raiden's command became clear as Kung Lao could see the first rays of morning begin to stream through the circular window.

"I suggest you use every last one of them wisely," Raiden warned him lightly.

Exhausted, but understanding that now was not the time to object to such a generous offer, Kung Lao nodded and quietly followed the other monks out of the room back to their own quarters. After seeing each one of them out, including the grandmaster, Raiden quietly made his necessary exit, extinguishing the candles and letting the light he had been blocking pour in from behind.


	9. Chapter 9

**All right, you guys, this is the final chapter. Some of you may be a little mad at me at the end, but just give it a shot, huh? :P**

* * *

Someone was humming.

The primeval melody didn't carry far; the sickeningly-sweet sound of the woman's voice was swallowed quickly by the faintest rustle of the wind among the leaves. Nevertheless, she continued to pick berries at a leisurely pace, without a care in the world about whether or not her performance had an audience.

She continued with her little song as she brushed her free hand off on the rough material of her robe, then stuck it in her basket and retrieved a pair of old-fashioned clippers. Crouching down, the hooded woman began methodically cutting the stems of the oddly-colored buds that dotted the area around the bush. She continued until she held a small bundle in her hand, an amount seemingly useless for any purpose, but it seemed to satisfy her as she reached to clip the last stem. But after the final snap that decapitated the unsuspecting flower, the woman let it fall to the ground.

She snapped her head up and took a cursory glance around her, waiting and listening intently for the sound to repeat.

_Crunch._

Omegis smirked. Leaving the butchered bud on the forest floor, she gathered the loose folds of her robes and silently made her way in the direction almost opposite the source of the sound, in the noiseless way she had trained herself to after centuries living in the woods.

Her prey, however, took no notice. A nervous Shaolin continued to stomp through the brush, knowing he was drawing attention to himself and wishing that he could try to be more discreet, but reluctantly obeying Raiden's command that he try and make as much of a spectacle as believably possible.

A restless Kung Lao shuffled about through the leaves for a minute more before coming to a stop in the middle of a random patch of trees. Realizing he was shaking slightly, the monk sucked in his breath, clenched his fists, and spoke out.

"All right, Omegis," Kung Lao called out, trying to remember the spiel he had been instructed to memorize, but after he began blanking out, he figured some relevant ad-libbing would suffice. "You win. We wasted everyone's time. We get it. We won't bother you anymore."

He paused, waiting for a response he wasn't sure he was supposed to receive. A breeze rustled to his right, causing the paranoid monk to snap his head towards the sound, anticipating the witch at any moment. As it was, the wind simply carried on, completely unconcerned with the Shaolin's startled reaction.

Trembling slightly, Kung Lao slowly turned to look back in front of him, until he was staring at the same empty space he had seen before.

…_Huh._

Kung Lao was unsure of what to do next. Logic dictated that he try and draw her out, as this was his and the Order of Light's last chance to do so. But he hadn't the foggiest idea how, and while Kung Lao wanted to follow Raiden's orders, he knew in the back of his mind that he had had his doubts from the start that this ploy probably wasn't going to work.

Hesitating, Kung Lao turned to leave, almost rooted by the nagging feeling that all he had to do was wait one more minute. But he reasoned with himself that if Omegis had wanted to make herself known to him, she would have done it by now, when he was alone and vulnerable. Fighting the doubt, Kung Lao rubbed the back of his neck, sighed, and turned to leave, too tired to worry about Raiden's reaction later.

He took three steps forward when he heard the diabolical giggling behind him. Before he could react, Kung Lao felt a pair of arms slinking around his torso from behind, looking down in horror as two milky-white hands that tapered off into ten blood-red painted little points crawled up onto his chest, hearing the rustle of burlap as the witch cozied up to his back.

"Leaving so soon, my little Shaolin?" Omegis cooed devilishly into his ear, relishing the way her prey squirmed to get away from her. Taking it up a notch, she began tracing a line with her right pointer finger up from Kung Lao's chest to his neck, smiling when the monk began to fidget even more.

"Surely you can spare a minute more," she taunted, resting her arm across his collar bone, a loose hug that silently served to remind Kung Lao that he remained in her grip, and that she was capable of doing anything to him if she had half a mind to do so.

Kung Lao shook, praying to Raiden that he wouldn't have to endure this for much longer, and yet wondering where the thunder god was now that his apparent goal had been realized. Still, he had been told to take no action against Omegis, despite his instincts screaming at him to do the very opposite the longer she kept him in place.

"My, my," she continued, stretching her neck to rest her chin on his shoulder, observing his increasingly frantic reaction. "The resemblance sure skipped a few generations."

Knowing it was all he could do, Kung Lao attempted to turn his face away from hers; however, Omegis simply grabbed his chin and jerked his head back towards her, forcing Kung Lao to finally look her in the eyes that the latter knew harbored much more malicious intent than they let on, spurring the warrior's breath to become even more shallow and ragged.

"So," Omegis continued nonchalantly, keeping Kung Lao's chin in her grip, allowing her to observe his frightened reaction as he gazed into her unnaturally youthful face. "To whom do I owe this honor?"

"That would be me," a voice darkly remarked from behind them. Although relieved to hear Raiden's voice and know that the deity had followed through on his promise to intervene, Kung Lao was still impatient to release himself from Omegis' hold.

He found his opportunity when the sorceress broke eye contact with him to take a startled look at the deity that had appeared out of nowhere from behind her. She could not react in time to stop Kung Lao from breaking out of her embrace, but she evidently was not too set on retrieving him once he escaped, instead opting to watch the frazzled Shaolin stumble into some bushes nearby.

Omegis indifferently dropped her arms to her sides and turned her head again, coyly giving the god a half glance over her shoulder.

"Using my precious Kung Lao's offspring as bait," she taunted lightly but ominously, artfully batting her lashes to see if she could get a rise out of him. "Very crafty, Raiden. Not something I would expect from you."

"I have my moments," the thunder god retorted humorlessly, prompting Omegis to turn around more to get a better look at him. Now completely disregarding Kung Lao, she first noted the divinity's dour expression, and then the swaddled bundle that he held in his arms. It took a moment for Omegis to search her memory for what it could possibly be, but as soon as the cloth began to wiggle around in Raiden's arms, the answer sprung to mind immediately.

"Ah," the sorceress stated nonchalantly, finding no urgency in the matter. "I see you've come to ask about your little friend."

"I am not asking," Raiden growled darkly as he advanced towards her, watching Omegis's expression tighten and her eyelids flicker open in momentary alarm as he came closer, but knowing the witch would stubbornly stand her ground. Sure enough, she remained rooted where she stood, craning her neck to look up at Raiden defiantly after he came to a stop about a foot in front of her.

"You will fix this mess you have made, Omegis," Raiden commanded, looking down on her. Her only response was an infuriating smirk before she looked down and leaned backwards to get a better view of the infant in his arms. A clueless Liu Kang beamed back up at her from the blankets, oblivious to the pensive look on her face. Omegis tilted her head, as if the altered angle would shed some light on a possible solution, until finally she shrugged.

"It's too late," she stated bluntly, as if one look at the child had been enough to discern such information. "The spell cannot be undone."

Kung Lao looked at his mentor in the utmost alarm, his eyes begging Raiden to do something. The latter, however, remained completely stoic.

"Besides," Omegis continued. "Why would you want to change this lovable little bundle," she said, poking a finger onto Liu Kang's tummy and tapping his nose, prompting the latter to burst out into peals of laughter, "back into such a boring adult?"

Kung Lao continued to look at Raiden, silently imploring his teacher to bring back his dear friend. Yet for reasons Kung Lao could not discern, Raiden was able to see straight through Omegis' sham.

"Enough of your games," Raiden barked, to which Omegis lazily looked back up into the irritated deity's eyes. "Stop playing dumb and lift whatever twisted charm you have placed upon Liu Kang."

Omegis lifted an eyebrow, seemingly impressed that Raiden had been able to see through her lie so quickly and doubtlessly. Still, she did not seem to be in any kind of rush to comply with his demands.

"And what exactly is in it for me?" she joked mockingly, tilting her head forward to condescendingly glare upwards at Raiden from underneath her perfectly-shaped eyebrows. Raiden paused to think of an appropriate reply.

_Your complexion remains as it is now and not a crispy golden-brown,_ was the first thought that popped into his head, somehow, but the god of thunder tilted his head back to look down on her as he thought of a more tasteful response.

"Perhaps a discussion with the Elder Gods regarding someone's unfortunate bout of unwanted immortality?" Raiden finally answered, raising an eyebrow of his own. He let it drop as soon as he saw Omegis process his words, her eyes growing wide at the insinuation that her ultimate desire could be only one undone spell away. Her expression suddenly grew stony.

"Do not taunt me, thunder god," she warned him, glowering.

"I do not taunt, Omegis," he replied, holding up a hand to assuage her doubts. "I will see what can be done. You do not have my guarantee that it will happen, but you have my word that I will try."

Omegis continued to glare, obviously not happy with the way he had put it, but as she pondered the offer over, soon she must have realized that it was the best deal she was going to get. Resigned, Omegis closed her eyes and sighed.

"Very well, then," she lamented dryly, turning to acknowledge the monk who remained on the ground behind her.

"Kung Lao," she called to him sweetly, holding out her basket. "Be a doll and hold this for me, will you?"

Contrary to what she must have expected, however, Kung Lao remained rooted to the ground where he sat, looking at the basket as if it were filled with hissing serpents instead of berries and flowers. Rolling her eyes, Omegis went to drop the basket on the ground when, as an unexpected gesture of goodwill, Raiden offered his hand to take the basket instead. Justifiably suspicious, but knowing it was in Raiden's best interest to make peace for the time being, Omegis left the basket on his arm and moved to take Liu Kang from Raiden's hold.

The child looked up at her, blissfully ignorant of the woman's identity, as Omegis moved him around so that he had a reasonably secure grasp on her shoulder.

"We are not far from my home," she said, still looking at Liu Kang but addressing the two men near her. She turned to Raiden.

"You may come with me, but only up to where I say you must stop," she directed him.

"Understood," Raiden complied, nodding.

"What about me?" Kung Lao interjected, finally spurred to get on his feet and look directly at Omegis, who dismissed the Shaolin with a wave of her hand.

"You are free to go, if you wish," she said, readjusting her grip on Liu Kang. However, an unsure-looking Kung Lao took a step towards Raiden, indicating that he would be sticking with his mentor to see this through to the very end. Omegis looked at him with an expression of what seemed to be mild annoyance.

"Very well, then," she stated simply, turning and walking in whatever direction it was that harbored her secret dwelling, with both men staying hot on her trail the entire time. The group meandered through the forest for a few silent (and at times awkward moments) before Omegis finally turned around, causing Kung Lao to bump into Raiden, whom he had almost unintentionally been using as some sort of buffer between himself and the witch.

"That is quite enough," she said, gesturing to Raiden to bring her the basket. Internally cautious, but willing to trust her for the time being, Raiden held his arm outstretched, allowing her to grab the basket for herself.

Omegis eyed the two of them warily for a moment.

"If all goes well," she said, prompting Kung Lao to glance unsurely in Raiden's direction, "you may just see him within the hour."

With that, she turned to continue her way along the path to her home alone. With her back to the men, Liu Kang was able to get a clear view of Raiden, to whom the infant reached out a chubby little arm. But soon he realized that his caretaker was not going to retrieve him, and at this Liu Kang's expression began to turn worrisome, as if to say it was fine for this stranger to hold him as long as Raiden was around, but taking him away from his protector altogether was another thing. A confused, hurt gurgle escaped from Liu Kang's tiny throat, wordlessly begging Raiden to take him back with each step Omegis took. Yet why did his guardian remain completely immobile? How could he let this stranger just take him away?

As Omegis took Liu Kang farther away from his friend and mentor, the infant finally broke out into a fit of hysterical tears, his piercing shrieks for his caretaker capable of being heard for miles throughout the forest, yet only meant for one target, who heard them all too clearly. Pain and worry coursed through Raiden's expression, whose instincts demanded of him that he follow the woman and child to her hideaway, that he protect the infant from any imaginable harm. It took every ounce of self-restraint the thunder god possessed to keep himself planted where he stood, watching Liu Kang disappear with Omegis into the brush until the only trace he had of the child was the faraway sound of his gut-wrenching cries. Soon, that was gone, too.

For a moment, Raiden could swear the clawing sensation in his chest was his heart breaking.

* * *

Still trying not to lose her patience with the child's incessant shrieking, Omegis set him down in the middle of the floor and took a step back. She checked to make sure that the symbols she had inscribed into the ground around the screaming infant were the correct ones for the spell to work. Not that it would be any skin off of her nose should it fail and the child meet an unfortunate demise, but the slim chance Raiden had offered her of ridding herself of her curse was _at least _worth giving the set-up a once over.

Ignoring Liu Kang's frantic cries for his caretaker, Omegis turned around and scanned the lineup of serums and powders strewn across the table behind her. She let her finger hover above each bottle until, straining under the dim light of the interior of the tree trunk to pick one out amongst the variety, she found the one she needed and delicately plucked it out from the pile.

She turned back around to face Liu Kang, who had stopped to take a shaky, gurgling breath in between screams. Knowing that she was forgetting something, Omegis tapped the bottle against her hip as she took advantage of the temporary lull to recall what it was.

"…Ah!"

Thinking ahead, Omegis put the bottle back and immediately shed her robe, draping over Liu Kang so that it covered the child up to his chest; unfortunately for her, the renewed contact sent Liu Kang into another fit of hysterical tears, causing Omegis to grit her teeth and quickly grab the bottle from the table.

"All right, you little worm," she growled, popping the cork and allowing the excess powder and fumes from the long-sealed bottle to waft away. "Let's get this over with."

Dumping a pinch of the purple substance into her palm, Omegis tossed the powder over Liu Kang, whose open mouth accidentally caught wind of some of the particles, sending him into a coughing fit even as he continued to try and raise as much alarm with his voice as possible.

It was then that the symbols on the ground began to glow with an unnatural light.

* * *

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Kung Lao muttered anxiously as he struggled to keep up with Raiden, who had decided on a whim to follow the path he had watched Omegis take to her home, prompting the Shaolin to begin voicing his concerns about breaking their promise to the witch in between stumbles over stray roots and branches.

"Too bad," Raiden tossed back as a retort as he continued to knock away branches with ease, occasionally accidentally flinging them into poor Kung Lao's face. Under normal circumstances, Raiden would normally take care to be more considerate of his student, but today he was on a mission.

"But Lord Rai…" Kung Lao started again before being briefly interrupted by a stray branch to the mouth, which he promptly spit out. "Raiden, what do you think she'll do if we find out where she lives?"

"She will move," Raiden answered bluntly. "She has done it before."

"But…" Kung Lao continued until he was cut off by an alarmed shout in the distance. By the time he was able to recognize it, however, Raiden had already blasted off at an immeasurable speed in the sound's direction, knocking the unsuspecting Kung Lao back onto the ground.

Although every tree should have appeared roughly the same at the speed Raiden was flying, he was able to spot one that stood out thanks to an overgrown cover that framed what appeared to be a door left ajar.

Instinctively, Raiden halted in midair and planted himself in front of the door, flinging it open and smashing the ages-old wood into smithereens; splinters were still flying everywhere as he stomped inside.

"What have you done?" he demanded reflexively, not noticing that his presence had caused a now-grown (and still very disoriented) Liu Kang to scramble to cover his completely exposed body with the robe Omegis had had the foresight to drape over his lower half.

"I told you not to follow me here!" Omegis responded angrily, ignoring his question.

"What's going on here?!" Liu Kang almost shouted in confusion, still clinging the burlap cloth to his waist.

Finally noticing that Liu Kang was there, Raiden stopped and did a double-take in the champion's direction.

"…It worked?" the god of thunder wondered out loud in disbelief.

"He's standing right there, isn't he?" she sneered, answering the question he had not meant to ask. She watched Liu Kang as he stumbled in an attempt to get on his feet.

Grabbing onto the nearest table (and making sure the robe did not fall past his waist), Liu Kang panted heavily as he looked at both people in the room with him with a wildly confused expression, still trying to overcome his initial shock of waking up in such a strange environment; what unnerved him even more was that both Raiden and Omegis seemed to be studying him right back.

Still alert, Liu Kang's eyes locked onto Raiden's.

"…What did you do to me?" he blurted out accusingly. Raiden, taken aback by his student's tone, stopped for a moment to try and calmly explain what had transpired, only to be shoved aside by Liu Kang, who, not caring much for an answer to his question and choosing instead to continue believing that somehow Raiden was the root of all of his recent troubles, made way directly for Omegis' doorway.

On the way out he bumped into an equally bewildered Kung Lao, who had just at that moment managed to catch up to Raiden. Both monks stared at each other incredulously.

"Liu Kang!" Kung Lao gasped, still adjusting himself to his friend's restored appearance. "You… your face!"

Still irritated, Liu Kang nonetheless put a hand tentatively to his own cheek and felt nothing but normal skin. At first he wondered what could possibly cause Kung Lao to react strangely to nothing, but then he remembered the hard mass of scar tissue that had covered most of his body such a short while ago.

Stunned, Liu Kang whirled around to look at Raiden incredulously, his hand still hovering near his face. For a moment, neither man responded. Sensing an opportunity, Raiden again attempted to explain himself, but his chance was lost when Liu Kang abruptly turned around and continued to stomp away on his path back to the monastery, shoving Kung Lao aside in much the same manner he had Raiden.

Hurt, Liu Kang's friend looked after him for a second before turning to acknowledge his mentor.

"Did he say anything to you?" Kung Lao inquired.

Raiden stood still for a moment, sorting out what had just happened in his head. Finally, clenching his jaw and drawing himself up to his full height (which was not an easy feat where he stood in the trunk of the tree), the deity shook his head.

"No," was the simple answer he gave.

"Well, too bad, so sad," Omegis snapped at the both of them, stepping forward and attempting to push Raiden out. She was helped along by the fact that Raiden, still caught off-guard by Liu Kang's reaction, did not have a steady footing. "Get out of my house."

She did not stop until Raiden was standing with Kung Lao right in front of her doorway. She grabbed the edge of the door before issuing Raiden one last notice.

"And remember your end of our bargain."

With that, she slammed the door closed, causing even more wood to break and splinter off.

"Wait!" Kung Lao cried out, grabbing the battered plank and yanking it back open; however, much to both men's surprise, the room which had the instant before contained the witch and her belongings was now just a barren space carved into the tree; there was no trace of Omegis.

Perplexed, Kung Lao turned to face Raiden.

"I was going to say 'thank you,'" the Shaolin warrior said blankly. Before Raiden could respond with a shrug, however, a small piece of paper fluttered down between the two of them, landing face down in a pile of leaves.

Kung Lao stooped over to pick it up, brushing some dirt off of the note before holding it for both him and Raiden to read.

'_You're welcome,'_ read the little scrap, signed with the familiar lipstick stain. Raiden expected his student to crumple the paper up, but much to his surprise, Kung Lao simply sighed and let it drop back down to the forest floor. He looked back up at his teacher.

"So nothing, huh?" Lung Lao lamented, his expression sympathetic towards the deity.

Raiden shook his head.

"I'll talk to him as soon as we get back," Kung Lao offered, only to receive another shake of the head from Raiden.

"Do not bother," the god told him, waving his hand weakly in dismissal. "It will not make a difference. He believes I am the cause of his problems. There is nothing we can do to change that."

"Well, he'll have to get over it eventually," Kung Lao tried to reason. "It's just a matter of time."

From his tone, Raiden could tell his student was simply trying to assure him of an idealistic future that the divinity knew did not exist; nevertheless, he placed a hand on Kung Lao's shoulder as a sign of appreciation for his student's attempt.

"…We will just have to wait and see about that," he offered back politely. He watched Kung Lao, thinking that he had successfully managed to convince his mentor of brighter times ahead, smile wearily and turn to head back to the monastery.

Raiden stayed behind and watched Kung Lao walk tiredly off into the distance, until the forest swallowed him as it had Omegis. He turned his pupil's words over in his mind, reconsidering how much truth there may have been in them.

Honestly, there was very little.

Raiden wasn't stupid; he had witnessed and knew the capacity mortals had for holding grudges, even irrational ones. As much as he hated to admit it, Kung Lao's naïveté had again blinded him to the reality of the situation; Raiden wouldn't be surprised if Liu Kang never spoke to him again.

And yet it was a reality with which he was willing to live. He had lost friends in the past, and he would lose countless more in the future; to death, to betrayal, to relationships that just had a nature of growing apart. It was simply a fact of life for him. And although he admitted to himself that in a way, he had been trying to fight it for the last week, Raiden acknowledged that this was just the way it was and had to be.

Still crestfallen, mourning over the end of his relationship with his star pupil, Raiden nonetheless recognized that he could not change the situation. He closed his eyes and took a deep, meditative breath, and when he opened them again, he realized he felt incredibly at peace in a way that he hadn't experienced for days.

Lifting a hand to the heavens, Raiden exited the forest in a brilliant flash of light.

* * *

**Yeah, that's pretty much it. I didn't really want this to have a happy ending, so if that's what you came here expecting… well, you're out of luck. : Sorry.**

**I'm really glad I was able to finally finish it, not just because I can add it to the list of multi-chaptered stories I've finished (which makes a total of, what? Like, two?), but because I've just gotten hooked on **_**Injustice**_**, and I can't wait to start my next story idea for a crossover with MK. :P So stay tuned.**

**Thank you so much to Obelisk of Light, fandelivres, and KitanavsMileena for your continuous reviews; whenever I consider just letting a fic die because I get busy, you guys convince me to keep at it. Thank you so much!**


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